How Much Was WWI About… Bread?  Scott Reynolds Nelson Investigates the Impact of Grain on the Great War.  Stories about the Great War of 1914 to 1918 often begin with an account of German aggression.  But the war’s cause also had roots in the cheap grain cast upon the waters every spring and summer to feed Europe’s working classes.  The Turkish-German alliance threatened European gullet cities: it combined the grain-bottling Bosporus, which could block Russian grain, with Germany’s ship-destroying U-boats, which could block grain from Argentina, Australia, and America. Together Turkey and Germany could starve Europe.  Grain was key to almost every stage of World War I.  Fearing the threat to its grain exports, imperial Russia helped provoke this global conflict.  During the war the British underestimated the threat of Istanbul and overestimated their ability to overcome it.  As the conflict dragged on, Germany, also suffering from a dearth of cheap bread, found a unique path to Russia’s bountiful harvest.  German success in 1917 and most of 1918 would rely on the un-likeliest of allies:  a communist grain merchant with an ax to grind.  World War I has been characterized as a “great powers” conflict with Germany as the aggressor.  A Serbian assassin killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary’s throne, leading that empire to declare war on Serbia.  Russia backed Serbia, mobilizing its army near the Austro-Hungarian border. Germany, itching for conflict, supported Austria-Hungary and demanded that Russia demobilize.  When Russia refused, Germany invaded Belgium to attack France—Russia’s ally and financial backer.  In the same month the Germans and Austrians attacked Russia near Tannenberg, wiping out the Russian First and Second Armies.  England joined the side of the Franco-Russian Allies after Germany invaded Belgium.  The Ottomans only joined the Austrian-German Central Powers two months later.  That’s an oft-told story, but for scholars of the pathways of grain around the world, the war’s history begins a little earlier and much farther east.  In 1911, Italy invaded what would become Libya, taking it from Turkey.  The day after the fighting stopped, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro took advantage of the conflict to invade Turkey.  Then, crucially, Turkey closed the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits to commerce, blocking all Russian grain and oil exports.  Russians, fearing that Bulgaria or Greece might capture Istanbul, put both their army and the Black Sea fleet on alert.  Literary Hub  February 23, 2022 

The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, or “Marrakesh Treaty,” provides for the exchange of accessible-format books across international borders by organizations that serve people who are blind, visually impaired, and print disabled.  The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted in 2013 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to address the widespread problem known as a “book famine,” the situation where few books are published in formats that are accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired.  On February 8, 2019, the United States became the 50th member to deposit its instrument of ratification of this treaty with WIPO, and the treaty came into force in the United States on May 8, 2019.  More information about the treaty, contracting parties and provisions can be found here at https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh External.  Additional information can be found through the United States Copyright office at https://www.copyright.gov/legislation/2018_marrakesh_faqs.pdf.  NLS is very pleased with this significant step toward making it easier for those with print disabilities in signatory nations to access printed works in accessible formats, such as braille and digital audio files.  On December 20, 2019, the Library of Congress Technical Corrections Act of 2019 amended NLS’ statutory authorization to harmonize NLS’s statute with the Marrakesh Treaty.  The Act amended NLS’s statute to permit the international digital exchange of materials under the Marrakesh Treaty.  The Act also amended NLS’s statute with a new definition of “eligible persons” consistent with the Marrakesh Treaty.  https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/laws-regulations/marrakesh-treaty/ 

ambrosial—food of the gods:  he lived on ambrosial food, and was clad in celestial raiment—Thomas Bullfinch; ambsace (double ace)—the lowest possible throw at dice:  I had rather be in this choice that throw ames-ace ofe my life—William Shakespeare  Endangered Words:  A Collection of Rare Gems for Book Lovers by Simon Hertnon  Thank you, Muse reader!   

Verbatim is a magazine devoted to what is amusing, interesting, and engaging about the English language and languages in general.  We strive to bring fascinating topics out of the dusty obscurity of dry linguistic scholarship and polish them up for the general reader with an intelligent interest in language.  We gently poke fun at the messes people can get into with English and the misunderstandings that arise from our common language.  All this, plus a generous helping of book reviews.  http://www.verbatimmag.com/   

divagate—one meaning with two contexts:  he didn’t divagate from commercial sounding elements—Daniel Franklin; holophrasis—expression of a phrase or ideas by one word: Sir.  Negative, apologies.  Cries heard.  Investigate.—Obsidian Fleet Database; infonesia—forgetting the source of some information:  I read this article about infonesia recently, I don’t remember where—John Alejandro King.   Endangered Words:  A Collection of Rare Gems for Book Lovers by Simon Hertnon  Thank you, Muse reader!

A Literary History of the Nose--In Which Very Few Olfactory Puns Are Committed by Dustin Illingworth  https://lithub.com/a-literary-history-of-the-nose/ 

paraph—a flourish made after a signature or a paragraph:  His unvarying use of this double paraph served to identify him more that the totally illegible signature—Mary A. Benjamin; peccable—prone to sin, susceptible to temptation:  credentials are about as impeccable as you can find in the peccable atmosphere of Hollywood—Vincent Canby; verbigerate—repeating the same word or phrase in meaningless fashion: Teenagers are inveterate verbigerators—Charles Harrington Elster  Endangered Words:  A Collection of Rare Gems for Book Lovers by Simon Hertnon  Thank you, Muse reader! 

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” her epic novel about racism, resilience and identity named for the influential Black scholar and activist, has received the fiction prize from the National Book Critics Circle.  In the nonfiction category, the award was given to Clint Smith’s “How the Word Is Passed:  A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.”  Rebecca Donner’s “All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days:  The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler” won for biography, and Jeremy Atherton Lin’s “Gay Bar:  Why We Went Out” was named the best autobiography.  The poetry prize was given to Diane Seuss’ “frank: sonnets,” and the criticism award went to Melissa Febos’ “Girlhood.”  Hillel Italie  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/2022-book-critics-awards_n_623440dde4b0d39357c610a3 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2511  March 23, 2022