Unmitigated Pedant Bret Devereaux has another of his historical explaination/analyses up, and it’s what it says it’s about, a deeeeeep dive into how people made iron. This follows his last series, which looked at how people made bread.
From a well-fed and industrialized point of view, iron’s a lot more sexy, honestly.
For people who might be wanting more than just a spoon-fed overview, there is also a bibliography.
“The Far Country is very good.”
“Who is in it?”
“Jimmy Stewart.”
“….”
“MOM IS THERE ANY ACTOR YOU DO LIKE? SERIOUSLY WHO DO YOU EVEN LIKE?”
“John Wayne. I like John Wayne. Do you have anything with him? What else do you have?”
“How about Vera Cruz?”
“Who is in it?”
“Gary Cooper.”
“…he just like Jimmy Stewart, you know.”
“…mom…”
“He don’t look like no cowboy! Even when he got them clothes on.”
“How about The Law and Jake Wade?”
“What is it about?”
“It’s about this guy who used to be an outlaw and now he’s a marshal and his old friend who is an outlaw is very upset about it and also about the twenty thousand dollars that went missing along with him when he ran off.”
“And then what happens?”
“So he takes him and his girlfriend hostage and they go out to get the money and there’s injuns.”
“Who takes the hostage?”
“Mom, who takes people hostage? Does a good guy take people hostage?”
“Oh, okay. Who is in it?”
“Robert Taylor and–”
“He is in the same class as Jimmy Stewart, you know.”
“….mommmm…”
“What else do you have?”
“Captain Blood.”
“I know who is in that. Errol Flynn. He looks like Jimmy Stewart.”
“….”
“Do you have something that’s not a Western?”
“Okay, how about Where The Sidewalk Ends. It has Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney….mom, okay, look, name three actors you actually like. JUST SAY IT PLEASE?”
“John Wayne. But I do not want to watch a John Wayne movie. They are too scary. Kirk Douglas. I like Kirk Douglas. Do you have any movie with him in it?”
“….”
“What?”
“I don’t like Kirk Douglas.”
Shane – Jack Schaeffer
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Space Opera – Jack Vance
The Weapon Shops of Isher – A. E. Van Vogt
Kristin Lavransdatter – Sigrid Undset
Drowned Ammet – Diana Wynne Jones
Shogun – James Clavell
Isle of the Dead – Roger Zelazny
Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank Gilbreth & Earnestine Gilbreth Carey
Earth’s Last Citadel – C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner
Byron’s Poetical Works
Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny
The Prisoner of Zenda – Anthony Hope
The Gripping Hand – Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Retief At Large – Keith Laumer
Scaramouche – Rafael Sabatini
Mattimeo – Brian Jacques
Pasture Management for Horses and Ponies – Gillian McCarthy
Life in Ancient Egypt – Adolf Erman
Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik
Not bad for $19!
Riders of Skaith 
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