The Riot Makers

Currently reading The Riot Makers, by Eugene Methvin. 

(At Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yyg7c4kc Good luck!)

(At Archive.org: https://tinyurl.com/y4vnv2yc One hour or 14 day loan, updated/corrected. No print, copy, etc of e-book loaner.)

Published in 1970, and apparently only in one print run, it is an in-depth study of commie methods of inciting riots, based on the "disorder" of the 1960s, primarily in the United States, both on- and off-campus. 

I realize that in some corners the phrase "commie methods of inciting riots" makes the author (and me, I suppose) sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the evidence is pretty compelling.

The book opens with a description of the Newark, NJ, riot of July, 1967. 1967, of course, having been the "Long, Hot Summer".

The author then follows the history of social engineering from Lenin to Mao, with brief looks at the Gracchi brothers and Mark Antony, Sam Adams, the "Babouvists" of the French Revolution, and Karl Marx.

The history of Lenin and social engineering is detailed, as is the description of the social engineering process. 

One constant theme is they manner in which communications technology facilitates the organizing and incitement process; it takes absolutely no imagination at all to add the internet and cellular telephones to radio and television and see how that amplifies the effect. 

You have probably heard the saying that "History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme"; reading this book with an eye towards current events will certainly confirm the notion, if not, as I alluded to above, make you think about triple-layering your tin-foil hat. 

I got this book through an inter-library loan, courtesy the King County Library system. If you can find a copy, I strongly urge you to do so.

EDITED to add: The writing style and attitudes in this book may seem dated. Certainly, some of the psychological and sociological terminology used is out of date and/or obsolete. Also, this book was published back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, when I was growing up, and "Negro" was still the word used in polite company. Some may find that jarring, or even, this being 2020, offensive.

Here's a documentary based on the book:

Columbia County, OR, Sheriff; a Review of sorts

For those Not From Around Here, the state of Oregon is Shall Issue for concealed handgun licenses for residents, and says that counties "may issue licenses to residents of adjacent states", i.e., California, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington.

Most counties seem to take the position that this means "residents of states adjacent to them", which means that many counties that are inclined to be so generous, only do so for folks directly across the state line; this also means most counties say "there are no states adjacent to us, so we won't do it." For years Clatsop county, at the mouth of the Columbia River, was considered to be the best bet for a non-resident permit, to the point that they were inundated beyond their ability to handle the load (they said), and started restricting issue to residents of Washington counties on the Olympic peninsula; that is, counties that are adjacent (or close to) Clatsop County. (This is a shame, as Clatsop County is a convenient destination for a weekend getaway; Seaside is a rather typical tourist stop which happens to be on a beach that Lewis and Clark frolicked on, but Astoria has some legit attractions, like the Columbia River Maritime Museum.)

Several years ago, the Sheriff of Grant County, which is entirely surrounded by other Oregon counties, and which I am told is the poorest county in Oregon, struck upon a radical plan to raise funds for his department: He would take his concealed handgun licensing show on the road, visiting gun shows in adjacent states.

I believe he did one or two shows in California first, then did one in Washington, and by the third or fourth fun show he had raised enough money to purchase a portable digital fingerprinting system.

Other Sheriff's got into the act; I heard a claim (unsubstantiated) that the efforts were coordinated among the Sheriffs.

So last summer I got a calendar reminder that our OR permits would expire in 6 months. Our latest permits were issued by Columbia County, just west of Portland, east of Clatsop County, and across the Columbia River from Brigid's hometown. I reset the reminder to three months out...

While I had "use or lose" leave time, alas, various things prevented us making plans before the permits expired, so we wound up going one week late.

Here's the deal: Columbia County only issues non-resident permits to residents of Washington. You need your WA CPL. If you go during the week you make an appointment, online, for a half hour block. $60.00.
They process permits on some Saturdays, cash only, on a walk-in basis.

So I made our appointments for 2:00 and 2:30, we got a room in Seaside at the time share for a couple of days, drove over -- in the pouring rain -- showed up at 13:50...
...and we were both done including photographs by 14:00.

Now, a new permit requires fingerprinting, so I'm sure those appointments take longer, but I still regard that as pretty good.

Also, part of the reason we got delayed until after our OR permits expired was that Mrs. Drang had to renew her WA CPL first, and on our way there she realized she had left it sitting on the desk.

Lanie (I think I'm spelling her name correctly) said "no problem" and gave us an email address to send a scan of her CPL to, and said they would process it normally.

So, if you're from Washington State and want to get (or renew) an Oregon carry permit, we endorse the Concealed Handgun Licensing services of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Readers Notes -- Geography is Destiny

In comments to my previous notes I mentioned that reader Arthur's comments provided me with a segue to my next post. Which this is.

I believe I saw Tim Marshall's book Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World (Amazon link) linked in an Instapundit post.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that has studied military tactics that geography has a controlling factor on what you do, and how you do it. It therefore follows that geography has an impact on your application of Operational Art, and of your strategy, not to mention of what used to be referred to a your "Grand Strategy", but in this less-poetically inclined age we simply refer to as "Foreign Policy"; in other words, "geo-politics" is more than just a word.

British journalist Tim Marshall attempts in this book to lay out the geographic causes behind how nations have developed, and fallen.  As the sub-title says, he lays out 10 maps of significant nations or regions to be studied, one chapter each. This analysis addresses current issues in international geopolitics as well as "how we got here."

He starts with China, then moves on to Russia and the USA; he then looks at regions: Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, the Indian sub-continent, northeast Asia, and finally, the Arctic.

He describes, for example, how geography (including climate, topography and hydrology) impacted the development of Mexico as contrasted to the United States.

There are few earth-shattering (heh) revelations here for the student of history, especially of military history, at least, not when examining well-studied eras and campaigns. But few westerners have an appreciation of how, for example, African geography constrained the development of civilizations and societies beyond the tribal/village level, and even now prevents most nations there from taking full advantage of the potential available to them.

So I believe that this book will have some useful information to anyone, and might serve as a primer for students with an interest in why nations make the decisions they do, but it is far from an in-depth study.

I will note, on the other hand, that at a certain level it is typical of books that address current events in that in only 3 years, some (much?) of the commentary is already obsolete. For example, he mentions that Obama's Iran deal has dissolved fears of an Iranian nuclear attack.

On the gripping hand, I did see some examples where the author's reasoning was a bit, well, facile. As an American, I am used to the subtle sneers and jibes of Europeans who shrug off anything we do in a sort of  "Well, you know, Americans. AmIright?" way. But Marshal spends a lot of time explaining why Mexico did not grow into the socio-economic powerhouse that the USA did, implying that the United States sort of fell into the jackpot, easily and undeservedly, while poor Mexico got stuck with the North American booby prize.

But the only reason Mexico did not inherit an empire that covered all of North America is that the Spanish Empire's interest in the New World was primarily as a source for the gold that would allow Spain to conquer and maintain a European empire: All that gold was pissed away in the Netherlands, the English Channel, and Italy.

Consider an alternate universe, where Spain saw the Great Plains as an opportunity for colonization for more than just extractive reasons. Where Spanish trappers paid Native Americans for furs, instead of complaining impotently while gringos took them directly, trapping the mountains almost bare of beaver in the process. Where instead of inviting American settlement in Texas as a buffer between Mexico and Comancheria, Spain found loyal subjects who would take on that challenge. But Spain didn't find any subjects who were interested in settling on the frontier, they were interested either in milking the New World for all they could get, or in converting the natives -- and it is questionable just how serious they were about saving native souls.

Whereas Americans were not just interested in settling on the frontier, they were downright insistent that they had a right to and would do so even when their own government said they didn't and couldn't. And, oh by the way, it wasn't all that easy. Europeans, amiright?

In other words, while geography shapes strategy and policy, so does culture. Geography also has an impact on culture, but culture has an impact beyond just "a people who arise in such-and-such terrain will be characterized thus-and-so."

Having spotted these issues in the chapter on the United States, I couldn't help wonder if I was missing similar issues in the other chapters.

Mind you, I'm not saying it ruined the book for me; far from it. The analyses of how geography has and will continue to impact national-level policy and strategy were, IMHO, spot on.

So this book is recommended, just be prepared for an occasional jolt as you think "Did he really write that?" or "THAT statement didn't age well!"


Here is the Amazon blurb:

Maps have a mysterious hold over us. Whether ancient, crumbling parchments or generated by Google, maps tell us things we want to know, not only about our current location or where we are going but about the world in general. And yet, when it comes to geo-politics, much of what we are told is generated by analysts and other experts who have neglected to refer to a map of the place in question.

All leaders of nations are constrained by geography. In “one of the best books about geopolitics” (The Evening Standard), now updated to include 2016 geopolitical developments, journalist Tim Marshall examines Russia, China, the US, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Japan, Korea, and Greenland and the Arctic—their weather, seas, mountains, rivers, deserts, and borders—to provide a context often missing from our political reportage: how the physical characteristics of these countries affect their strengths and vulnerabilities and the decisions made by their leaders.

Offering “a fresh way of looking at maps” (The New York Times Book Review), Marshall explains the complex geo-political strategies that shape the globe. Why is Putin so obsessed with Crimea? Why was the US destined to become a global superpower? Why does China’s power base continue to expand? Why is Tibet destined to lose its autonomy? Why will Europe never be united? The answers are geographical. “In an ever more complex, chaotic, and interlinked world, Prisoners of Geography is a concise and useful primer on geopolitics” (Newsweek) and a critical guide to one of the major determining factors in world affairs.

Reading Notes, Revolutionary Edition

 So, if you read my blog you probably also read Tamara's blog and saw this post:

Which is why I wonder about people who call for a "second revolution". We beat the odds in '76, but just because you got lucky drawing to an inside straight once doesn't make it the way to bet. https://t.co/4KzaoXlYDJ

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) September 1, 2018

This was actually a Re-Tweet with commentary of a Tweet of mine:

The Revolution eats its own.
The American War 4 Independence was an exception. French Revolution led 2 the Terror, & 2 Napoleon. The Russian Revolution led 2 the Russian Civil War led 2 purges & the Holodomor. The Chinese Civil War led 2 the Great Leap Forward, purges & famine.

— Drang (@DWDrang) September 1, 2018

which was in itself a reply to others being surprised that Twitter has gotten too hot for Will "Weaselly Crusher" Wheaton, who had up until very recently been one of the most reliable of knee-jerk leftist narrative followers.

(If the Tweets themselves do not show up, just text with funky formatting, you can click on the date of the tweet to see the things in their original glory.)
(Side note: I just noticed that I have 1776 Tweets..)

Part of the reason for this tweet was that I just finished reading Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914 - 1921: Laura Engelstein (Amazon link), which I borrowed from the King County Library.

Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

October 1917, heralded as the culmination of the Russian Revolution, remains a defining moment in world history. Even a hundred years after the events that led to the emergence of the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state, debate continues over whether, as historian E. H. Carr put it decades ago, these earth-shaking days were a "landmark in the emancipation of mankind from past oppression" or "a crime and a disaster." Some things are clear. After the implosion of the three-hundred-year-old Romanov dynasty as a result of the First World War, Russia was in crisis-one interim government replaced another in the vacuum left by imperial collapse.

In this monumental and sweeping new account, Laura Engelstein delves into the seven years of chaos surrounding 1917 --the war, the revolutionary upheaval, and the civil strife it provoked. These were years of breakdown and brutal violence on all sides, punctuated by the decisive turning points of February and October. As Engelstein proves definitively, the struggle for power engaged not only civil society and party leaders, but the broad masses of the population and every corner of the far-reaching empire, well beyond Moscow and Petrograd.

Yet in addition to the bloodshed they unleashed, the revolution and civil war revealed democratic yearnings, even if ideas of what constituted "democracy" differed dramatically. Into that vacuum left by the Romanov collapse rushed long-suppressed hopes and dreams about social justice and equality. But any possible experiment in self-rule was cut short by the October Revolution. Under the banner of true democracy, and against all odds, the Bolshevik triumph resulted in the ruthless repression of all opposition. The Bolsheviks managed to harness the social breakdown caused by the war and institutionalize violence as a method of state-building, creating a new society and a new form of power.

I think someone at Amazon couldn't bring themselves to make any observations about how the "Bolshevik Triumph" was due to the Bolshevik's being better at slaughtering anyone who didn't toe their party line better than any of their rivals. Also, that "true democracy" as espoused by the Bolsheviks was just a word to dupe the masses.

While this book is organized more-or-less chronologically, Engelstein covers the events of 1905-1921 geographically as well, examining events in all of the former Russian Empire, including those arts that managed to break off from it to become independent -- as well as in those that failed in their attempts to do so. (Growing up in Detroit, more often than not I heard Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia referred to as The Captive Nations"; they had a weekend Ethnic Festival all their own.)

The Reds did not so much defeat the Whites as the Whites defeated themselves: They were not an "Army" so much as being a chaotic shambles under a blanket descriptor. This process is well described, as is the way that Lenin and Trotsky, et alia,  blithely had thousands if not millions slaughtered for the crime of... existing.

As I noted in my tweet above (limited to 280 characters) not only was the process of the revolution devouring it's own not finished, but it was neither the first nor the last to do so. If you can find it, I highly recommend The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression: Jean-Louis Panné, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek, Jean-Louis Margolin, et al. to describe the manner in which various revolutions have betrayed those in whose names they were carried out. Note that it was written by an assemblage of European commies.

(From the Amazon.com Review: When it was first published in France in 1997, Le livre noir du Communisme touched off a storm of controversy that continues to rage today. Even some of his contributors shied away from chief editor Stéphane Courtois's conclusion that Communism, in all its many forms, was morally no better than Nazism; the two totalitarian systems, Courtois argued, were far better at killing than at governing, as the world learned to its sorrow.)

Now, I've tried to read Russian history before and gotten so bogged down in Russian names that I had to quit; I was simply unable to keep track of who was doing what to whom. (I suppose there's a Lenin joke in there somewhere...) Robert Conquest just, well, defeats me when it comes to it. (Maybe Daddy Bear can recommend something...) I managed with this one, so there's that.

This is another of those books which run 800 pages, 200+ of which are notes, index, and bibliography. At some point I extended the loan from the library, but I managed to finish it by the original due date. It probably wouldn't have been a challenge if my reading habits haven't been severely impacted by my work schedule, i.e., working graveyard shift, I do most of my reading on my weekends.

If you've ever wondered how Russia went from the Tsar to Kerensky to Lenin, and how Lenin hung on until his death, this book covers the period well. Recommended.

Pleasantly Surprised

So Mrs. Drang walked in the house and asked me "What did you order from Ukraine?"

I laughed and said "That's exactly how I thought this conversation would go."

Anyway. There have been reports of prowlers in the neighborhood, and I work midnights.  Suddenly, that 20 gauge old coach gun I'd bought her for Christmas all those years ago seemed like more than just a prop for the contemplated (but not acted upon) pursuit of Cowboy Action Shooting as a hobby.

The thing with a double barrel shotgun, of course, is that you only have two shots. Also, it is hard to maintain it in  a "cruiser ready" status, that is, shell in the magazine, but none chambered. On a pump action shotgun you load the magazine but have the slide all the way back...

I had a butt-mounted shell holder, but it was so loose on the 20 that it slid forward. Also, it's nylon and elastic, so looked "wrong".

Amazingly few leather shell holders for 20 gauges out there, until I found an outfit on Etsy, BronzeDog. Price was reasonable for all-leather, so I ordered one...

Buttstock Cartridge Holder Leather Buttstock Ammo Holder

...and that, of course, was when I discovered they're in Ukraine.

I placed the order on April 17th. They make to order, which means they started working on it when I placed the order.

We picked it up It arrived today, the 30th. {EDIT: The 30th being Monday, and the UPS store being closed on Sunday, it might have come in Saturday afternoon after we picked up mail.}

The lace locks in behind the swell of the pistol grip pretty firmly.
Photo ©2018 D.W. Drang and the Cluemeter

I need to pick up some more 20 gauge buckshot.
Photo ©2018 D.W. Drang and the Cluemeter

The cheekpad is a nice touch.Not too high.
Photo ©2018 D.W. Drang and the Cluemeter

The excess lace will be tucked in.
Photo ©2018 D.W. Drang and the Cluemeter

They do butt and belt mounted ammo holders for rifles and shotguns, and satchels for same for range or hunting blind use, and also do dog collars and the like.

Good, high-quality leather, and sturdy construction.  Recommended.

Rangemaster Combatives Pistol, Take One

This weekend I took Tom Givens' Rangemaster Combative Pistol class, at West Coast Armory North

• The way you know it was a good class is you walk away from it not sure if you can digest all the learning that occurred.
• AAR/Comments on actual learning that occurred will follow in a day or two three. {edit: OOPS! Sorry, DWD}
• We spent more time on the range than in the classroom, about a 3 to 1 ratio or higher, but the classroom time was well-spent. 
• I've heard some say "If I spend money for a shooting class, I want to shoot, not hear a lecture."
• While some topics lend themselves best to demonstrate/drill on the range, others are really best addressed sitting at a desk, taking notes.
• West Coast Armory North is a nice facility. Three bays with 6 lanes each, well-ventilated, and clean and well-lit. John (owner, who was in the class) mentioned that they are changing out the backstop material later this summer.
• My complaints are two:
  
  1. It's too far north for me, and
  2. After most of the day on my feet, I was wishing John had put in an elevator.
• Seriously, returning to the (upstairs) classroom I felt like I'd just finished a 20 mile ruck march.
• Also, John, I was wrong about no mention on the blog about dancing: There is a reference to The Hot Brass Dance.
• The Detroit Holster Hastings worked well, within its design parameters. 
• I went with the Tek-Lok belt attachment.
• This meant that the holster stuck a quarter inch or so out from my body.
• This meant that there was a little more leverage for the holstered pistol to sag a bit.
• When I got home Saturday night I figured out how to move the spacers -- the Tek-Lok can work with up to a 1.75" belt, and comes with spaces for 1.5" belts -- to take up the slack. 
• I also switched to the Wilderness Frequent Flyer belt, which is a tad stiffer than the 5.11 Double Duty belt I had been wearing.
• Bottom Line: Good holster, not ideal for concealed carry for me. (Maybe the Metro, for concealed carry.)

Product review, Detroit Holster "Hastings"

(Consider it a "First Impressions" review, with a follow-up to come, if you like...)

Some time ago I became aware of an outfit calling itself "Detroit Holster".

While not one of the Big Names in kydex benders, they have gotten good reviews, which intrigued me as a native of the Motor City.

As a native Detroiter, I confess to getting a bit of a kick from the fact that most of the holsters are named for significant Detroit roads: the 8 Mile (thank you, Slim Shady), the John R, the Dix, the Hastings...

When I signed up for Tom Givens' Combative Pistol class at the end of June, I decided that I needed an out-of-waistband holster for my Sig P320 Carry, with Streamlight TLR-1.¹

Most of the Big Name kydex benders are advertising a 6-8 week lead time, or more, whereas Detroit Holsters says

CURRENT LEAD IS APPROXIMATELY 2-4 WEEKS.  ** Most “8 Mile”, “Hastings”, “John R” and “MoTown”, models without light/laser are currently shipping in about 1 – 2 weeks **  

I placed my order for a Hastings OWB holster on Monday, May 15nd.

It arrived up on Friday, May  26th.  Note that the disclaimer says "without" light/laser, this was with.

With the Hastings, you have a choice between a paddle, and Tek-Lok; I went with the Tek-Lok, because I've seen paddle holsters come out on the draw²...

Holding the holster in my hands fit was very tight, enough so I was wondering if the draw would be awkward.

Based on 15 or 20 minutes of dry practice, draw and present, holster, repeat, the concern was not warranted. I'm hardly Mr Coordinated, so I'm sure the draw wasn't pretty, but I had no problems.³ With the Tek-Lok the holster does stick out far enough to be less than ideal for concealability, but that's what the Sub-Compact P320s are for.

I got black, out of some sort of frugality. They have lots of colors available. And patterns. Including The Colors and the Lone Star Flag. The gun is Flat Dark Earth, I probably should have spent the extra fin or sawbuck and gone with FDE or Coyote, but...

Pictures follow. Not sure what trick of the light caused the flat black holster appear to be brown in the pics...

Detroit Holster's Hastings OWB Holster.
©2017 DW Drang & The Cluemeter

Holster and gun.
©2017 DW Drang & The Cluemeter

Front view.
Like most holsters for light-bearing handguns, retention is on the light, and is pretty tight.
©2017 DW Drang & The Cluemeter

Back view of the Tek-Lok.
©2017 DW Drang & The Cluemeter

Business end view. That's the cell phone flash, not the light itself.
©2017 DW Drang & The Cluemeter

Regulars will recall I had Holster Issues at Ernest Langdon's Tactical Pistol class last October; while it is too soon to say that I, personally, will perform any better at Tom Givens class next month, I certainly should be better off, equipment-wise. (Not blaming the gear for my being behind the power curve, but I made some dubious decisions that resulted in self-induced snake-bite...) My review of the Tom Givens class will certainly include a more detailed gear review, so stay tuned..

I may need to order myself a Hastings in Old Glory for my 1911 Rail Gun w/Surefire U400.

Unless Detroit Holsters offers a custom "Spirit of Detroit" pattern⁴...

***

1. While I hate it when we, as Gun Geeks, start getting all specific about the gat we have, what features or options it has, etc., when buying a holster the specific model and any options, such as a light, matter.
2. This might have been operator error, i.e., not ensuring everything was securely in place, but still...
3. Wilderness Frequent Flyer belt, if anyone is wondering. 
4. The Spirit of Detroit - Wikipedia

Ernest Langdon Tactical Pistol Skills AAR, Take 2

The Kent, WA, Police Department hosted Ernest Langdon for his two-day Tactical Pistol Skills course at their indoor range on October 24th and 25th. (And again on the 26th and 27th.) 

Unusually for a class sponsored by a law enforcement agency, it was open enrollment; after securing authorization from the CFO I signed up. (And almost had to cancel, but the Salt Mines decided they didn't need me to help clean up after Hurricane Matthew after all.)   

There were twelve students in the class: 2 Kent PD officers, 3 Federal Way PD officers, and one each from Auburn, Seattle, and the King County Sheriff's department. Most or all of the cops were firearms instructors, SWAT team members, or both.

Besides myself, the "civilians" included a Microsoft engineer, a heavy equipment operator in the logging industry, and a gun 'riter.

10 of the students were shooting Glock 17s or 19s; Rick (logger) was shooting a 1911 in 9mm, which meant That Guy was the only one shooting a full-size 1911 in .45 ACP.

At least 3 of the SWAT officers had RMRs on their Glocks.

The Kent PD's indoor range is located at the Kent Fire and Emergency training complex; I was surprised, because despite the fact that I had done my CERT training up there, had been a member of the Kent Emergency Communications team which meets up there, and that Mrs. Drang and I helped the Kent PD's Public Information Officer teach a Refuse To Be A Victim class there, I no idea there was a range on the premises.

It is a pretty impressive facility, for all that it's unassuming on the outside; the soundproofing is excellent, so that those who usually double-up on ear protection in an indoor range didn't need to. The air system was also over-built ( I believe they told us to three times what is required) and the filters are changed every three months.

The range is set up with six firing positions at the"near" end, but they are built to easily open up and provide minimal obstruction, making one large open bay; the target system seems to use the newer digital controls so that you can precisely control the range. The range is a full 25 yards long, allowing meaningful training with rifles and shotguns.

Unfortunately, health and safety rules completely prohibited food and drink inside the building, which made staying hydrated awkward, to say the least.

Course Description from Langdon Tactical's website:

Stick it! A product review

Once you start shooting regularly -- or irregularly, as the case may be -- you will, as I have mentioned before, want to acquire more magazines, since the magazine seems to be the most common point of failure in a semi-automatic pistol.

And once you start shooting regularly and using all your magazines, you will find that, sure enough, some fail and you need to ditch them (or repair them, if possible) but if they all look alike...

So you need to be able to identify which magazine it was that had the damaged feed lips, or whatever.

There are many options. On my 1911 magazines, I used paint pen:

"Drang G.I. 7rd. #4"

Paint pen wears off, but is easy enough to re-apply.

But if you have my penmanship, it looks like crap. If it matters to you...

Anyway, I was looking for a better way to manage my ammo cans, and went looking to see if there was a better looking option than a stencil and a can of spray paint. (Yes, Avery labels and a printer are usable, but ink jet ink runs in the rain. I spent 20 years in the Army. It always rains when I train...)

And I found these folks: STICKIT2THEMAX - Stickers, Banners, T-Shirts and more.

SI2TM (hope they don't mind my abbreviating their name) does ammo can stickers, in a variety of calibers and colors:

Keep reading for some info on the ammo cans!

Turns out that SI2TM also does magazine base plate stickers for several different firearms; they have both "Number and Caliber" stickers in a decent section of text  colors, and what might as well be called "morale stickers." The number stickers come in sets of 1-6 and 7-12, but for the true magazine hoarder it would be easy enough to have, say 1-12 with white on black, and 1-12 with yellow on black, etc.

(For the Sig 250/320, subcompact magazines are a different order item than the compact and full magazines)

(For some foolish reason I neglected to get a picture of the full sheet until I was over halfway through.)

The stickers are printed on a heavy duty vinyl, and seem to have a pretty good quality adhesive, although when I attached on sticker askew, I was able to peel it off and re-apply it.  Obviously, I haven't tried these out with a full destructive testing regime, and I doubt I will, but they seem to be a great option for keeping track of range/training ammo versus defensive/match ammo, both in a magazine and in the can.


I had no idea how we have been conditioned by e-commerce.  I ordered these on Tuesday. Got the order confirmation and receipt in email, then... nothing. No tracking number. What's wrong with these people?!

My order arrived on Saturday. From the east coast. Never mind...

By the way, in the photo above with the can sticker on the cans, the two cans on the right hand side of the photo are old GI 7.62mm cans. The two flat OD Green cans on the left were acquired at... Costco.

$20 for a set of one .50 caliber can and one .30 caliber can.Going back for more, I hope they're still in stock...

"Law of Self Defense", Andrew Branca

On Valentine's Day, Mrs. Drang and I went on a very romantic outing to attend a seminar by Andrew Branca on the Law of Self Defense in Washington and Oregon. Andrew is the author of the book by the same title, available at his web site Law of Self Defense, or on Amazon. Because, after all, what isn't available on Amazon these days? (Ammo. Ammo isn't available on Amazon. And kittens.)(I think.)

As responsible gun owners we all know that, to borrow a phrase from President Reagan, much of what folks know about self-defense just isn't so.  By now one benefit of all those forensic crime shows on TV is that people should be aware of the fact that it is not, in fact, a good idea to shoot the bad guy on your front porch and drag him inside, but that does not mean that common sense necessarily prevails in all cases.

It is a common place to say that you are justified in using deadly force in self-defense if you were in fear for your life or safety, but is it enough to say "I was in fear for my life"? What about the common advice to ask for your lawyer and then clam up, refusing to say anything? What will the police make of that, and what if that lawyer doesn't magically appear right away?

As for the self-defense claim, much of the class was spent going over the 5 factors that go into making up justified acts of self-defense:

1. Innocence
2. Imminence
3. Proportionality
4. Avoidance (we'll come back to this...)
5. Reasonableness

Other topics included Defense of Others, Defense of Property, Consciousness of Guilt (and how it can impact your legal defense),  Self-Defense Immunity, and Interacting with the Police. (These are all straight out of the syllabus. The presentation PowerPoint slides -- yes, I still think PowerPoint is a tool of the devil! -- were available for purchase in a printed, bound book, and I'm glad I did!)(Andrew made good use of it, BTW, speaking to the audience, not the screen, and not simply reading each slide.)

The discussions of each of these topics were salted liberally (pardon the expression) with citations of the statutes, regulations, court decisions and case law, and in some cases jury instructions, that impacted the points being discussed for both Oregon and Washington State.

For example, sources of Self-Defense law in Oregon include:

• Oregon Revised Statutes SS161.190, Justification as a defense
• Case law: State v. Wolf, 317 P.3d (OR Ct. App. 2013)
• Jury Instructions: Uniform Criminal Jury Instructions (UCrJI) No. 1107 Defense-Physical Force-Defense of Person

(Note that Andrew's book goes over much of this statutory material; that is, each chapter discusses key points and has an appendix with citations form statutes and case law form each state where such exists. So if you can't get to his seminar, you can still read his book.)

Part of the reason I have waited two weeks before posting this review of the class is that I have been debating how much I should say about the content. I am not a lawyer. I am not qualified to give legal advice (assuming anyone would be fool enough to take legal advice from a blog post...) So I think that I will just cover a couple of points I found notable, and suggest that, if you are interested, you purchase Andrew's book, and if he does not have a seminar scheduled where you can get to one, you should try and see if a local gun club or range/training facility would be interested in hosting him.

I alluded above to an exception to the "Self Defense Factor" "Avoidance"; this came up as part of a lengthy discussion of "Castle Doctrine" and "Stand Your Ground".

Avoidance imposes a duty to retreat; under certain circumstances there is no duty to retreat. Generally speaking, you have no duty to retreat in your home, AKA "Castle Doctrine". (Unless it is also the home of the person attacking you.) Some states extend the definition of "home" to the boundaries of the home, some stop them at the exterior walls. Even if there is  duty to retreat it only applies if one can do so safely; jumping off a cliff does not count.

Stand Your Ground is different; "SYG" laws generally say something to the effect that "one need not flee an attack if one is where one has a legal right to be."

Note that while "SYG" may be included in statute, it may still be advisable to retreat if one may do so safely! Why be there when trouble comes looking for you? Just because the law says you do not have to avoid it, does not mean you shouldn't make it work...

Washington State is what Andrew referred to as a "Hard" Stand Your Ground jurisdiction, as explained in the Pattern Jury Instructions:

WPIC 16.08 No Duty To Retreat
It is lawful for a person who in a place where that person has a legal right to be and who has reasonable grounds for believing that [he][she] is being attacked to stand [his][her] ground and defend against such attack by the use of lawful force. The law does not impose a duty to retreat.

And also in at least one court opinion:

In Washington, one who is assaulted in a place he has a right to be has no duty to retreat. Flight, however reasonable an alternative to violence, is not required.
State v. Williams, 916 P.2d 445 (WA Ct. App. 1996)

Complicating the Stand Your Ground issue is the possibility of the prosecution in a criminal case, or a lawyer in a civil case, making the argument that you were the aggressor. In this case, you will want witnesses that you made efforts to de-escalate and leave the scene, in order to "regain your innocence", as it were.

Oregon does not have statutory law regarding Stand Your Ground; however, in the 2007 case State v. Sandoval (156 P.3d 60) the Oregon Supreme Court rendered the following opinion :

Nothing in [Oregon self-defense statutes] suggests that a person who reasonably believe that another person is about to use deadly force against them must calculate whether it is possible to retreat from that threat before they use deadly physical force in self defense.

 Which sounds great except that, in a footnote, advised that "a person who wishes to avoid criminal liability may well be required to avoid the danger..."

Which seems prudent anyway, if you can.

On another front, neither Oregon nor Washington State have any self-defense immunity from either criminal prosecution or civil suit. Washington does, however, have a (so far as I know) unique Self-Defense reimbursement law under 9A.16.110 of the Revised Code of Washington, if it is determined in a trail that you acted in self-defense, the state can be required to reimburse you of you for the expenses incurred in defending yourself at trial.

I have never heard of this being done. I am also unaware of any charges being dropped because the prosecutor decided it was not worth it due to this. Nor do I know anyone who has volunteered to be a test case.

I see that I have barely scratched the surface of this seminar. The slide deck ran to nearly 420 slides, counting the conclusion, and I have skipped much material, as much to keep this post a manageable length and to avoid getting over my head on legal technicalities as to avoid getting sued by a lawyer for copyright infringement. (Just kidding!)(I think...)

So I will wrap it up by saying that the experience was well worth the money, and it is highly recommended; if you cannot attend the appropriate session for your state, and are at all concerned about the legal aspects of self-defense, then you should at least read Andrew's book, and see about bringing him to your neck of the woods.


NOTE for Washingtonians: Dave Workman's excellent book Washington Gun Rights and Responsibilities covers a lot of ground that Andrew's book and seminar did not, like Open Carry, where you can and cannot carry in the state, reciprocity, and so forth. Also highly recommended.

Word of the day

heuristic

heuristic - Wiktionary
Etymology: Irregular formation from Ancient Greek εὑρίσκω ‎(heurískō, “I find, discover”).
Adjective: heuristic ‎(comparative more heuristic, superlative most heuristic)

1. Relating to general strategies or methods for solving problems.
2. (computing, of a method or algorithm) that solves a problem more quickly but is not certain to arrive at an optimal solution.

Noun: heuristic ‎(plural heuristics)

1. A heuristic method.
2. The art of applying heuristic methods.

Heuristic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A heuristic technique (/hjᵿˈrɪstᵻk/; Ancient Greek: εὑρίσκω, "find" or "discover"), often called simply a heuristic, is any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method not guaranteed to be optimal or perfect, but sufficient for the immediate goals. Where finding an optimal solution is impossible or impractical, heuristic methods can be used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution. Heuristics can be mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Examples of this method include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, stereotyping, profiling, or common sense.

An outfielder uses a heuristic when he saunters over to exactly the place where the fly ball will appear to fall into his glove.  Russell Wilson uses a heuristic when his play is broken and he still throws a forward pass to a receiver for a touchdown. A shotgun shooter uses heuristics to powder a clay pigeon.

What brought this up is that I am reading Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, by Gerd Gigerenzer.

Reflection and reason are overrated, according to renowned psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer. Much better qualified to help us make decisions is the cognitive, emotional, and social repertoire we call intuition?a suite of gut feelings that have evolved over the millennia specifically for making decisions.... Gigerenzer ...explain{s} just why our gut instincts are so often right. Intuition, it seems, is not some sort of mystical chemical reaction but a neurologically based behavior that evolved to ensure that we humans respond quickly when faced with a dilemma? (BusinessWeek).

I'm two or three chapters into this slim volume, and so far it is pretty accessible, and full of examples of research and experiment, not just psycho-babble, as one might fear. )Professor Gigerenzer's research is the basis for another, perhaps better known book, Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell.)

Was HAL9000* really a "heuristic algorithmic" computer? Is that even possible? Maybe the problems with HAL were that it was programmed using heuristics rather than proper logic...


*Which supports Clarke's and Kubrick's contention that HAL's name was a coincidence, and not just a "one letter before IBM..."

Defensive Shotgun, FAS 10/17/2015

(EDIT: Because of my accidental posting of the first, partial draft of this yesterday, it shows up as a post from yesterday, which screws up the continuity of the blog, so I've changed the "Posted At" time.)

Last Saturday I took a Defensive Shotgun class from The Firearms Academy of Seattle, Inc.

I have mentioned a couple of times that I want to take such a class, but my local range does not offer it. So when I saw that FAS had a class scheduled, I checked my schedule and signed up.

Despite the name, the Firearms Academy of Seattle is in the thriving metropolis of Onalaska.

About 2 hours from Seattle, and one and a half from Portland, depending on traffic conditions...

Why? Well, it's a lot easier to build a range complex in the woods than in Seattle; the name wasn't changed because, well, the business was established, and who would go to the Firearms Academy of Onalaska?

It's Just Like That

Only in this case it's "I HAVE MADE IT FIRE!!!!"

A month or so ago I scored a SureFire DSF-500/590 Forend Weapon Light for my Mossberg 500 in an Amazon Lightning Deal.

Then I had to look up YouTube videos on how to replace the forend.

Most of them have the demonstrator's hand is in the way.

So I ordered a book on how to do it. Then I ordered another one, to fill in some blanks.

So I got started, then I realized I had to order a new action tube, since the old forend turned out to be (contra what I thought) one of the ones where the forend and slide tube are integral. Then I had to order a new slide tube nut, because the old forend was a 7.5" one, and the new one is the shorter 6.75 incher, which takes a different nut.

Finally got it assembled yesterday, and it seemed to dry-fire OK, but I didn't want to try it too much, lacking snap caps. (Which are on order, and due to arrive on a week or three...)  Dinking around with it we established that the light on it's lowest setting is pretty darned bright. On the highest setting, I felt like I could send Morse Code messages to the International Space Station, if I remembered how to send Morse code messages.

By the time I had time to put it all together, well, lets just say that, when I went to the friendly neighborhood gun range and store to test fire it today I was fully expecting to step off the range and into the store and leave it with the gunsmith to put together for me properly.

I managed not to do a happy dance or to carry on like an idiot when I was able to put several magazine of slugs down range without a problem.

Well, except for recoil; not unanticipated, slugs not being known for being gentle on the shoulder, and the range being restricted to slugs for scatterguns. Still, ow. (Also, in all modesty, kudos to me for not adding any of the extensions to the Magpul SGA stock; I am convinced that having it set up for a shorter pull helped.)

After testing the shotgun I got the Sig 320 out of the rental cabinet to try a box through it. Can't say I'm in love with it, but its not bad and I am in love with the idea that Mrs. Drang and I can have the same pistol, sized well for each of us. The modular grip frame seems like it may work better than any combination of any manufacturer's interchangeable back straps and front straps and grip panels.

Tried it from 3 to 10 yards, two handed, strong hand only, and weak other strong hand only. Got some weird twisting shooting it left-handed, not sure what that was all about. All shots were inside the 9 and 10 rings, until I was trying it one handed at the 10 yard line. Also, I didn't have any issues with my thumbs hitting the slide lock, like I've seen on some other Sigs. So it looks like a winner.

"Overruled" - Book report and commentary

Just finished reading Overruled: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court, by Damon Root. This is, essentially, a libertarian history of the US Supreme Court.

That Is, perhaps, a poor description, in the sense that it makes it sound simultaneously dry as hell and also written by a wide-eyed, sky-castle dwelling, dreamer.

Not so.

Amazon's synopsis:

Should the Supreme Court defer to the will of the majority and uphold most democratically enacted laws? Or does the Constitution empower the Supreme Court to protect a broad range of individual rights from the reach of lawmakers? In this timely and provocative book, Damon Root traces the long war over judicial activism and judicial restraint from its beginnings in the bloody age of slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction to its central role in today's blockbuster legal battles over gay rights, gun control, and health care reform.

It's a conflict that cuts across the political spectrum in surprising ways and makes for some unusual bedfellows. Judicial deference is not only a touchstone of the Progressive left, for example, it is also a philosophy adopted by many members of the modern right. Today's growing camp of libertarians, however, has no patience with judicial restraint and little use for majority rule. They want the courts and judges to police the other branches of government, and expect Justices to strike down any state or federal law that infringes on their bold constitutional agenda of personal and economic freedom.

Overruled is the story of two competing visions, each one with its own take on what role the government and the courts should play in our society, a fundamental debate that goes to the very heart of our constitutional system.

And it's actually quite interesting, or at least, I found it so.

I also found the  repeated use by the court of the reasoning expressed by Oliver Wendell Jones, Jr., in Blodgett v. Holden (1927), that

...as between two possible interpretations of a statute, by one of which it would be unconstitutional and by the other valid, our plain duty is to adopt that which will save the Act.

to be, well, shocking.

So, you're telling me that the Supreme Court is supposed to be predisposed to allow Congress run roughshod over the Constitution?

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

"Judicial Deference" they call it, "Judicial Restraint."

Appalling, I call it.

This, of course, is how the Roberts Court can rule that a tax is a fine is a tax, depending on the application, and therefore is, and isn't, subject to what the Constitution says on the matter of taxes. Also, how when a law refers to "The State" it acutally means "The government at any level."

And how previous courts can hold that  marijuana grown in the backyard of a person with a legitimate prescription can somehow be held to impact "interstate commerce."

As for the book: Root writes well, presenting difficult legal concepts and arguments in a straight-forward style, making them easy to grasp.

I can't help that note that we also seem to have entered an era of Legislative Deference, in which the tools in charge of the congress will work harder to please th Imperial President than to obey the Constitution.

One thing I was surprised to learn was that, when Alan Gura took the case that would become Heller v. DC, he was not yet working with the Second Amendment Foundation, but rather for The Institute for Justice. SAF came along later, after NRA had tried to convince IJ that Heller was the wrong case at the wrong time...

"King Of The Khyber Rifles"

Hadn't seen it in a long time. What a hash.

Mind you, as an adventure movie it's good, but...

Only similarity between this and the novel is the title, and the rank and last name of the title character.

• Talbot Mundy's novel was set at the time of the First World War, and Captain Athelstan King was doing intelligence work on the frontier. No one gave any thought to his mixed blood. There was a strong supernatural element.
• The movie seems to be based on the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Sort of. 
• British Uniforms are a mess.
• Including the rank insignia. (Alan King is a captain, but wears a Major's rank.)
  And includes Sam Browne belts decades too early
• They  use American bugle calls
• In the movie, the Khyber Rifles are cavalry...
• ...And are depicted in one scene using Kukri knives as a throwing weapon.
• And the Regimental Music includes a pipe band, playing Highland tunes.

Shooter Self-Care Class @ NRA AM2015 (Update)

Saturday morning at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville this year, we attended a Shooter Self-Care Class taught by Kelley Grayson of the blog Ambulance Driver Files - A Day in the Life.

The odds are good that even a police officer who totes a gun every day will never fire a shot off of the range, let alone get shot himself or have a partner do so.  The statistics are even better for lawfully armed citizens. Nevertheless, as the amount of gun handling goes up, so does the chances of someone experiencing a gunshot wound.

The responsible citizen will know how to do more than dial 911 and wait...

I had intended to post not just a review of the class but something of a syllabus, but Shooting Illustrated magazine has published Kelly's article on the topic: Shooter Self-Care: Providing Lifesaving Care, which does a pretty good job.

Now, the classes you usually hear about on the subject tend to be "Tactical Critical Casualty Care" or something of the sort, and are all about the sort of things that a SWAT Team member will need to know to provide casualty care under Dynamic Operational Conditions while Operating Operationally. The course requirements usually include a packet of QwikClot and a thousand rounds of ammunition.

Sounds like fun, but not what I need.  Also, not what Kelly was teaching.

Here's the outline for the class:

• Formulate a range safety plan
• Discuss legally mandated reporting
• Recognize and treat life-threatening injuries:
• CPR/AED
• Major hemorrhage control
• Thoracic wounds
• Recognize and treat secondary wounds:
• Burns
• Eye injuries
• Impaled objects
• Minor bleeding

After the jump, this turning into something of an uberpost, I'm just going to go into detail about a couple of things that were not in Kelly's SI article. 

"Urban Defensive Tactics" class, 12/14/14

In previous installments of "The Education of D.W. Drang" we saw him take an "Introduction to Handguns" class (One Step Back, Two Steps Forward?) and the same (local) range's "Progressive Handgun Skills" class (Another Step Forward). I've also shared some Soul-searching (Gringo Pistolero edition) with you and inflicted some related but Random thoughts on the subject of guns and gun design on you.

On Sunday 12/14/14 I took Federal Way Firearms Training's newest class, Urban Defense Tactics. FWFT conducts it's training at my Friendly Local Gun Store & Range, Federal Way Discount Guns. About a week before the class, we were notified that the course description had been updated to emphasize that we were encouraged to bring a rifle and/or shotgun to practice with, and also that a quality flashlight was highly suggested.

I also realized Saturday night that it suggested a good pair of knee pads, and I had neglected to get any; fortunately, the Big Blue Big Box home improvement store opens at 0800 on Sunday morning, so I was able to get a pair before class.

Instructing was Grif, retired King County Sheriff's Deputy and Law Enforcement Instructor. Janice, the manager of FWFT and the lead instructor of the Introduction to Handguns class I had taken, was assisting.  There were two other students.

While the Progressive class moved directly to the range after a short safety briefing, this class started out in the classroom and stayed there for an hour or two. Topics discussed in the classroom started out with a review of Revised Code of Washington (RCW) articles:

• RCW 9A.16.050: Homicide — By other person — When justifiable. and
• RCW 9A.16.060: Duress.

Mmm-mm, good!

A few months ago Mrs. Drang picked up a pair of these drink maker/infuser pitchers at membership warehouse. In case you don't want to click the link, the set is two half-gallon pitchers, plus one "tea infuser" and one "fruit infuser."  The infusers screw into the lid; the idea is that you fill the tea infuser with loose tea, make tea, then swap it for the other infuser full of sliced fruit and herbs and whatnot and infuse your tea with other flavors.

Of course, you could fill the pitcher with wine and use the fruit infuser to make sangria.  Or fill the pitcher with water -- or vodka -- and make another kind of infusion.

I decided I wanted some "grown-up iced tea", what with temperatures holding in the 80's.  (Hey, in Western Washington that's grueling!)

The first batch I used the bags of "Tropical Medley" tea that came with the pitchers.  (They want you to use their tea, of course, but I'm not sure how economical that would be. OTOH, our local grocery store doesn't carry loose tea!.)(!) I made too much tea, and had to pour some off. Then I added bourbon, and put a sliced lemon and some mint in the infuser. This was more-or-less their recipe, except for the fact that I didn't exactly measure anything...

Not bad.

For the next batch -- effectively simultaneous, I had two pitchers to work with -- I made a batch of raspberry iced tea using Keurig K-Cups, added Chambord liqueur and vodka, and in the infuser I put some chopped up raspberries.

This one was a little more to Mrs. Drag's liking, although based on how long the pitcher lasted it might be sort of "situational".  Plus, I was winging it...

When Mrs. Drang was shopping for loose tea, as I mentioned above, she couldn't find any; instead, she bought some Lipton Cold Brew tea bags.  Each of these are supposed to make a quart of iced tea, and, as the name implies, don't need hot water to do so. I'm sure purists will object, but it tastes like iced tea, and is easier, so until they prove there's a health impact, I'm fine with this.

Anyway, current recipe is more-or-less:

• 1.5 Quarts Tea (I've been brewing it strong, but, you know, to taste...)
• Lemonade mix, suitable for making two quarts of lemonade (I.e., tub of Crystal Lite, scoops of Country Time, etc.)
• 2 cups booze of your choice. 
• Infuse fruit and herbs to taste.

The first batch of this I used vodka.  The second used gold rum. I haven't used any fruit, just some mint from the garden "muddled" with a bit of agave nectar, which may give it a little more sweetness. Although I keep eying the jar of "nuclear cherries" that was put up a couple of years ago and pondering the possibilities...

It's pretty simple.  It's pretty tasty.  It's pretty.... Damn it! My glass is empty!

Okay, now that disaster has been averted (mmmm!) you obviously don't need a "Drinks Maker 4-piece Pitcher Set" to do this.  Herbs can be put in a tea ball to infuse.  Fruits (or vegetables, I guess, if that floats your boat, so to speak) could be floated freely, or put in cheese cloth, to facilitate retrieval.  After all, sangria is usually served with free-floating fruit, like we did last year at Gun Blogger Rendezvous.

But it sure is refreshing after a hard, hot summer's day in The Salt Mines.

Oh, burn!

So, out of curiosity I clicked the link to Amazon's page for Hillary Clinton's new book.

2.3 stars out of 5.

406 One Star reviews, 24 Two Stars, and all of 117 Five Stars.

The "most helpful" review -- meaning the one that shows up at the top of the list -- is the following "One Star":

1.0 out of 5 stars
As a punishment for misbehavior… June 15, 2014

By Goosedeals

Format:Hardcover

My science teacher once assigned me to write a 500-word report on the contents inside a ping-pong ball. I was NOT allowed to use the word, “nothing.” It turned out to be a very creative exercise. I learned a lot about gas; particularly nitrogen and oxygen. --But it was possible. The ghost writer of “Hard Choices” faced a similar task… Write a 650-page book on the accomplishments of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (And do NOT use the word, “Benghazi.”) By all means, read this book! -- It’s very creative, and you’ll learn a lot about gas.

That has to hurt...

I was going to quote a couple of the Five Star reviews, but... well, waste of space.  

Quickie Book Review, The Global Crisis

Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century by Parker, Geoffrey (2013)

The subtitle says it all:  This is not just a book about the Thirty Years War or the English Civil Wars,  the Seventeenth Century was a time of upheaval all over and all around the world, not just through civil and religious wars, not just due to conquest and colonization, but also due to natural disaster (plagues, volcanoes, earthquakes) and through global climate change -- global cooling, to be precise.  (This books was the source of my post Ancient Wisdom, Revolting Peasants Edition)

Amazon's Blurb:

Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides, government collapses—the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were unprecedented in both frequency and extent. The effects of what historians call the "General Crisis" extended from England to Japan, from the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa. The Americas, too, did not escape the turbulence of the time.
In this meticulously researched volume, master historian Geoffrey Parker presents the firsthand testimony of men and women who saw and suffered from the sequence of political, economic, and social crises between 1618 to the late 1680s. Parker also deploys the scientific evidence of climate change during this period. His discoveries revise entirely our understanding of the General Crisis: changes in prevailing weather patterns, especially longer winters and cooler and wetter summers, disrupted growing seasons and destroyed harvests. This in turn brought hunger, malnutrition, and disease; and as material conditions worsened, wars, rebellions, and revolutions rocked the world.
Parker's demonstration of the link between climate change, war, and catastrophe 350 years ago stands as an extraordinary historical achievement. And the implications of his study are equally important: are we adequately prepared—or even preparing—for the catastrophes that climate change brings?

This is a pretty thick tome, 697 pages of text, 871 including appendices, bibliography, and index.  I had to extend the loan on it from the library to be able to finish it. It was well worth the time spent.

One thing that was striking to me was that the standard response to crop failures due to wars, rumors of wars, and the Maunder Minimum and it's ensuing Little Ice Age was to raise taxes on everything.  The governments that handled the disruption the best were those that lowered taxes, and offered tax relief and food and other support to communities that had all they could do to survive.

Oddly, to a Westerner's eyes, this means Moghul India and Tokugawa Japan.

A cynic might point out that this actually meant more government control over the ordinary person's life; another sort of cynic would point out that this is a mater of degree, especially when discussing the Tokugawa Shogunate.


Parker does not just rely on documentary evidence -- memoirs, diaries, government records -- but also consults the "natural record", such as ice cores, tree ring counts, and so forth, to include climate evidence in areas where there is no reliable record of events or conditions.

One point that is often brought up is how a reduction of temperature of  just one degree Celsius can shorten the growing season by weeks. Even if weather conditions are perfect for the shortened growing season (and when are they ever?), this shortened season can lead to shortages, if not outright famine.

One of the most valuable aspects of the book, in fact, is that it can also be viewed as a survey of actual global history of the period, covering as it does every continent (albeit there is no documentary record for Australia or Oceania, so the natural records must suffice) and most, if not all, nations. I will say, however, that many of the charts he includes that show things like income, population, or climate, are not necessarily related well to the text.

All in all, this is a valuable book, bringing together both historical and natural records from a variety of sources, and also covering areas that are often ignored as being "outside the scope" of other studies.  As I said, I felt it was well worth the time to read it.