Ran into a fun read on the remainder table at Border's for $5.99, Intelligence in War. The first chapter shows how close Napoleon was to being destroyed by Nelson before he ever got to Egypt at the beginning of his deadly imperial career. I had a German teacher at Texas from Berlin who was personable offer that 'Hitler was like Napoleon' in a kind of historical shrug. The second recounts Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign, an impressive military feat. The third chapter shows the value of entrepreneurial technical progress as in Marconi's example in developing wireless for the British Navy as well as showing you the deadly thrill of sea battles with the background the hubris of the Kaiser's regime.

Michael Barone had a column January 4 in the Wall Street Journal on how voters tend to show changes in what's important to them after 4 presidential elections, every 16 years, reflecting the median voter being 45 and his/her view reflecting what they've like and/or don't in their American experience and in part discounting the dangers that have been avoided by the overhang of the previous trend. I don't know if that can be freely linked.