Goldwag's Journal on Civilization
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- 253 from 20 Oct 2016 to 22 Oct 2026
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- weekly (26 in the last year)
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2026 22
- Gendering Power & Rationality in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
- INTERVIEW: Desperation, Intrigue, & Espionage in the Glasslands
- The Jewish King of Easter Island
- Dueling Anime VTubers: Belle and Cosmic Princess Kaguya!
- Reconstructing the Crisis of the 21st Century (1992-2083)
- BOOK REVIEW: The Philosophical Strangler
- Did Odysseus Cause the Bronze Age Collapse?
- The Empresa de China & the Hapsburg Bid for World Supremacy
- The World of the King in Yellow
- Sing O Muse, of the Broship of Pallas Athena and Odysseus
- Visualizing the Past (Part Four)
- Delegitimizing the Juristocracy
- The Disillusionment of James McMurtry
- BOOK REVIEW: The Folded Sky
- The Government of the Star Kingdom of Manticore: A Critical Examination
- Into the Tower with the Boy and the Heron
- INTERVIEW: Archer, Shran, and the Art of Fanfiction
- BOOK REVIEW: Red Storm Rising
- The Pax Americana (Part Three)
- BOOK REVIEW: Chronicles of Chaos
- It’s Always One Battle After Another, Isn’t It?
- Where in the World is Enver Pasha?
2025 29
- INTERVIEW: The Lights are Going Out All Over the Alpha Quadrant
- What Liberals Can Learn from Charlie Kirk
- BOOK REVIEW: Ducks
- Exploring the Past Precedents of the Political Futures of New York Mayors
- BOOK REVIEW: The Shiva Option
- Returning to Narnia (Part Two)
- Returning to Narnia (Part One)
- Equality of Man Before His Creator
- The Eternal Empire
- BOOK REVIEW: The Raven Tower
- Frogs, Newts, Robots, & Family: How Amphibia Proves its Worth
- BOOK REVIEW: The Last Unicorn
- Intention Matters: The Magic of Middle-earth
- The Government of the Galactic Empire
- Ancient Globalism: Rome, India, China, & Beyond
- Stars Wars and the Difference Between Reverence and Respect
- The Young Marshal’s Long Career
- Frozen’s Missing Middle
- Frieren: The Quest is Over But the Journey has Just Begun
- BOOK REVIEW: Shadow of the Leviathan
- Did the United States Almost Support Nazi Germany in WWII?
- The Pax Americana (Part Two)
- BOOK REVIEW: Hell’s Gate
- What’s Wrong with the Democrats?
- The Pax Americana (Part One)
- From Undiscovered Country to Nemesis: How Star Trek Reflects Society
- The Second Time as Farce: Imperialism in the 21st Century
- Fionna and Cake: Breaking the Prison of Nostalgia
- Some Thoughts on Casablanca
2024 27
- The United Nations (2257 CE)
- BOOK REVIEW: War with the Newts
- Girls in Trouble: The Best Band You’ve Never Heard Of
- They Cannot Conquer For Ever
- Visualizing the Past (World War II)
- Exploring the Historiography of Mad Max: Fury Road
- An Apologia for Rose Quartz
- Make it a Good One: The Experience of Steven Universe
- BOOK REVIEW: Lost Stars
- From McMurdo Sound to Flanders Fields: The End of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
- BOOK REVIEW: Piranesi
- The Augustinian Settlement
- “But Then Again, Who Does?”: Unraveling the Story of Arrival
- Visualizing the Past (Part Three)
- The Moral Economy of the Shire
- What Should Israel Do?
- The Age of Queens is Over: Star vs the Forces of Evil
- BOOK REVIEW: Forever Peace
- The World-Spirit on Wormback: What is Dune About?
- Carole & Tuesday Won Me Over
- The Fermi Paradox Doesn’t Exist
- You Brought Me Up
- BOOK REVIEW: The Guns of the South
- The Sauronic Empire
- Was Emperor Elagabalus Trans?
- BOOK REVIEW: The Boat of a Million Years
- Pluto: The Emptiness of War
2023 25
- Defining European Colonialism
- Stories Need Endings
- Did Tintin Prevent World War II?
- This is Going to Happen Again
- Treaties & Interstellar Agreements Ending the Dominion War
- BOOK REVIEW: Inkheart
- The Cherokee Civil War
- Nimona: Sincerity, Fear, & Power
- How Well Did the Concert of Europe Work?
- “Peeps’ll Never Starve in My Eternal Empire”: Princess Bubblegum and Marceline
- Writing the History of Star Trek
- BOOK REVIEW: Tour of the Merrimack
- Austriae Est Imperare Orbi Universo
- Are Dwarves Jewish?
- Gravity Falls is Great!
- Visualizing the Past (Part Two)
- The Owl House: It’s Got Gays, it’s Got Witches, it’s Got Gay Witches
- Atlantropa: The New Continent
- A Historical Reevaluation of the Banishment of Prince Zuko
- Were the Atomic Bombings of Japan Justified?
- The United States, Ukraine, and the Question of Escalation
- BOOK REVIEW: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
- Deconstructing the Domination of Draka
- Evaluating Avatar
- A Tour Through Twentieth Century Imperialism
2022 25
- Andor and the Art of Building a Universe
- My Five Favorite Moments in Lord of the Rings
- Lower Decks is a Masterclass in Star Trek Storytelling
- When did the Roman Empire Fall?
- Compare & Contrast: Gul Dukat and G’Kar
- The Rise & Fall of the Roosevelt Dynasty
- BOOK REVIEW: The Bartimaeus Trilogy
- How Many Transgender Children are there, Actually?
- Alternate History Review Roundup
- Cancel Culture & the Free Marketplace of Ideas
- Imperial Federations: 1945-1962
- The Battles of the Barrages
- Castlevania Falls Short
- The United Federation of Democratic States
- What a Strange and Lovely Story
- Wildest True Stories of the Napoleonic Wars
- The Dueling Flags of Deutschland
- The Dark is Rising and it’s Terrifying
- BOOK REVIEW: Cowboy Angels
- Visualizing the Past (Part One)
- The Century of Czarinas (Part Two)
- Solidarity with Ukraine
- Where are the Air Nomads?
- The Century of Czarinas (Part One)
- Such is the Life of an Adventurer: The Joy of Hilda
2021 24
- The Canadians Will Greet Us as Liberators
- Life, Death, & Time in the Vorkosigan Saga
- Dune Fulfills its Destiny
- What Went Wrong with Honor Harrington?
- BOOK REVIEW: Old Man’s War
- Qin Dynasty Follies
- The Confluence of Creation
- Forever We Marvel at the Walls of Uruk
- BOOK REVIEW: The Memoirs of Lady Trent
- The Golden Age of Submarines
- Lord of the Rings, Queerness, and the Nature of Great Art
- The Witcher’s Wasted Ending
- Would it Have Been Better if the Persians Had Won?
- Treaties Ending the Great War (1914-1918)
- What’s the Deal with Voltron: Legendary Defender?
- The War on Children: Historical Context for the Assault on Trans Rights
- BOOK REVIEW: Mistress Masham’s Repose
- The Glorious Stupidity of Fomenko’s New Chronology
- The War Aims of the Lesser Axis Powers
- The Purpose of Power: Satsuki Kiryuin in Kill la Kill
- Succession Crisis: The Roman Empire’s Hidden Weakness
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Storytelling on a Historical Scale
- Canadian Provincial Flags Ranked from Best to Worst
- Let’s Talk About Sakamoto Ryōma
2020 30
- The Definitive Ranking of Star Trek Movies
- The Treaty of Sèvres & the Middle East that Wasn’t
- What Makes Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts So Wonderful?
- BOOK REVIEW: The Castle Federation Series
- Graceling & the Legacy of Evil
- The Saga of the Seeadler: The World’s Last Sailing Warship
- History Repeats: Comparing Molotov-Ribbentrop & the Treaties of Tilsit
- BOOK REVIEW: The Goblin Emperor
- Avatar, She-Ra, & Defying the Dead Hand of the Past
- Star Wars & the Entropic Spiral
- Exploring Scale, Size, & Scope in Science Fiction Worldbuilding
- Tolkien’s Enigmatic Approach to Lore
- J.K. Rowling, TERFs, & Trans Rights: You Are Not Entitled to My Opinion
- Do We All Live On Campus Now?
- My Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters
- Singapore 1942: The Fall of the British Empire
- BOOK REVIEW: The King of Attolia
- The Spectacular Conclusion Of She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power
- Captain Nemo & The World Revolution of 1875
- If the Great Game Went Hot: Speculation on an Alternate Great War
- This is a Wrongness
- The War of the Triple Alliance & the Destruction of Paraguay
- Top Five Best and Top Five Worst National Flags
- Hideyoshi to Hirobumi: Japanese Ambition in Korea, 1592 and 1904
- Happy International Women’s Day!
- Saruman Should Have Won: An Analysis of Rohirrim Cavalry Tactics in the War of the Ring
- BOOK REVIEW: The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club
- The Irony of June 1940
- Dar Al-Islam Ascendant: Visions of an Islamic Present
- The Emptiness of Conservative Nostalgia
2019 27
- “Better a Pig than a Fascist”: Porco Rosso & the Biennio Rosso
- Top Ten Wildest Moments in Paradise Lost
- The Russo-Japanese War: A Mutilated Victory?
- In Appreciation of Darius the Great
- BOOK REVIEW: Succession
- Did Immigration Destroy the Roman Empire?
- A Strategic Analysis of Federation Defense Policy Immediately Prior to the Dominion War
- The Extraordinary Life of Alexander Parvus
- German Victory in the West: A Retrospective
- BOOK REVIEW: Dealing with Dragons
- Deconstructing the Castle: Revolutionary Girl Utena
- An Age of Gods and Demons: The Greatness of Princess Mononoke
- Opium Dealer of the East: Japan and the Failure of the Civilizing Mission
- Reflections On The Economy Of The United Federation Of Planets
- Deliberate Amnesia: The Media, Mike Pence, & LGBT Rights
- Nineteenth Century Hapsburg Family Melodrama
- Avengers: Endgame Is Really Quite Good
- BOOK REVIEW: The Curse of Chalion
- How I Would Fix The Star Wars Prequels
- The Second American Empire: 1898-1934
- Cruelty Well Used: The Hester Shaw Problem
- The Lord Of The Rings As Metafiction
- A Peace Deal Without Peace
- The Perennial Failure of Greek Imperialism
- BOOK REVIEW: X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar
- Rogue State: Was Serbia Responsible For World War One?
- The Bonapartes: Where Are They Now? (Part Four)
2018 19
- Streamlined Storytelling & Baroque Visuals In Mad Max: Fury Road
- The Emotional Complexity Of She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power
- BOOK REVIEW: Nimona
- Accidental Queerness In The Safehold Series
- Top Five Best and Top Five Worst U.S. State Flags
- Ross Douthat’s Ultramontanist Adventures
- BOOK REVIEW: The Will Of The Empress
- Who Elected Adolf Hitler?
- The Long War: Japanese Victory 1941-1942
- The Bonapartes: Where Are They Now? (Part Three)
- In Defense Of The Kaiserliche Marine
- BOOK REVIEW: The Ballad Of Sir Dinadan
- Nelson’s Last Ride: The Battle Of Tsushima
- Anxiety In Kiki’s Delivery Service
- Bring Back Anti-Clericalism!
- Megan McArdle Is Wrong
- BOOK REVIEW: The Mirage
- The Bonapartes: Where Are They Now? (Part Two)
- The Myth of Small Government
2017 18
- The Bonapartes: Where Are They Now? (Part One)
- BOOK REVIEW: Sparrow Hill Road
- Reevaluating The Treaty Of Versailles
- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Is The Best
- BOOK REVIEW: The Chosen
- The American Légitimistes
- How I Would Fix America
- Napoleon Bonaparte Is History’s Only True Supervillain
- Abraham Lincoln Was Not A Third Party President
- Wonder Woman And The Mythology Of The First World War
- Visualizing The Great War
- Feminist Folk Music: Does It Exist?
- “There is no Tsar! There is no God!”
- Woodrow Wilson Was The Absolute Worst
- The Roads Not Taken: Part Two
- The Greater War
- The New Eighteenth Century
- Napoleonic Victory Fragments
2016 7
- The Roads Not Taken: Part One
- The Final Definitive Ranking Of All U.S Presidents
- Don’t Turn Your Back On A Bureaucrat
- Port of Call: The Revolution Will Be Critiqued. A Guest Post.
- You’re Probably Not Smarter Than A Château General
- Miyazaki And The Intersection of Marxism and Feminism
- Are We In 1860 Or 1912?