USA – Manchester Historian

Upon visiting Phong Nah-Ke Bang – a national park located in the middle of the Annamite Mountains in Vietnam – I was stunned to observe that exploration was not advised without a map marking the unexploded bombs of the area. Despite the war in Vietnam culminating over 45 years ago, the subject of unexploded ordnance is an issue that plagues the inhabitants of not only Vietnam but Laos and Cambodia too, further exacerbating issues of poverty, inaccessibility of farmland and hatred towards the US.

Jack Crutcher reviews the Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe winning film, 12 Years A Slave. He looks why slavery has become a popular focal point of challenging cinema in the last couple of years.

While Chanukah (or Hanukkah) has been a Jewish festival for centuries, it did not become a major event in Jewish life until the twentieth century. Corinne Abrahams review the evolution of Hannukah, from nationalist celebration to Christmas competitor.

“Four score and seven years ago…” So began one of the most iconic speeches in modern history, spoken by the President who led the USA through the horrors of the Civil War and ended the legal practice of slavery. You can’t deny it, Abraham Lincoln is everywhere in the USA from the colossal Lincoln Memorial, Continue Reading

South Sudan is the newest country in the world, but it does not seem to hold much promise for a bright future. Desperately poor, unstable, and suffering from shockingly high infant mortality rates, the country suffers from problems that are fruit of its colonial roots. Through fear of losing control of the Nile and the Continue Reading