[H&F] The final bit of Kaarlo Kurko's experiences, and, more on baseball and history

[rfmcdonald]

Two of my co-bloggers have made posts to History and Futility today.

Jussi Jalonen, in his Kaarlo Kurko; the victory, the downfall and the aftermath", describes how Kurko became disaffected with Belarusian nationalists, came to embrace Poland, left Finland after he was kept from the ranks of the Finnish officer corps to join the French Foreign legion, and eventually became a popular writer, dying in 1989 just as communism was ending. It's an interesting end to the story of a creative and bloody-minded man.

The Oberamtmann, meanwhile, in his "Baseball and History: Narratives, Part Three", writes about how baseball plays a central role in American culture, a source of clichés and a bellweather for major social changes (Jackie Robinson's joining the major leagues indicating the decline of racial segregation, for instance). This last point leads to one interesting question: can the great players of the segregation-era major leagues, by virtue of not having played against African-American players, really be said to have been great? Another interesting question: why haven't the Negro Leagues gained more recognition?

Go, read.