andré crombie
LightNews LightNews
banner
andrecrombie.bsky.social
andré crombie
@andrecrombie.bsky.social
150 followers 440 following 480 posts
— mgmt, organizing, and comms (among other things) for campaigns/orgs
— enthusiast of books, birding, music, and basketball (among other things)
— a better world is possible!

https://mixtapemonday.substack.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
andrecrombie.bsky.social
one of the my biggest nba pet peeves lol
November 27, 2025 at 12:01 AM
andrecrombie.bsky.social
the thirty years war by cv wedgwood — lucid and humane insights, magnificent economy of language, every detail tells. it's a jaw-dropping book.
The insecurity and discomfort of life encouraged irresponsibility in the ruler. Wars brought with them no immediate upheaval since they were fought largely by professional armies, and the civilian population - except in the actual area of fighting - remained undisturbed at least until the need for money caused an exceptional levy on private wealth. Even in the actual district of the conflict the impact of war was at first less overwhelming than in the nicely balanced civilization of to-day. Bloodshed, rape, robbery, torture and famine were less revolting to a peopie whose ordinary life was encompassed by them in milder forms. Robbery with violence was common enough in peace-time, torture was inflicted at most criminal trials, horrible and prolonged executions were performed before great audiences; plague and famine effected their repeated and indiscriminate devastations. The outlook even of the educated was harsh. Underneath a -vencer of courtesy, manners were primitive; drunkenness and cruelty were common in all classes, judges were more otten severe than just, civil authority more often brutal than effective, and charity came limping far behind the needs of the people. Discomfort was too natural to provoke comment; winter's cold and summer's heat found European man lamentably un-prepared, his houses too damp and draughty for the one, too airless for the other. Prince and beggar were alike inured to the stink of decaying offal in the streets, of foul drainage about the houses, to the sight of carrion birds picking over public refuse dumps or rotting bodies swinging on the gibbets. On the road from Dresden to Prague a traveller counted 'above seven score gallowses and wheels, where thieves were hanged, some fresh and some half rotten, and the carcases of murderers broken limb after limb on the wheels'.
November 19, 2025 at 11:32 PM