History's Carnival
Jonathan Mirsky,"China at Sea," TLS, 24 January, reviews Edward L. Dreyer, Zheng He: China and the oceans in the early Ming dynasty 1404–1433. Thanks to Arts & Letters Daily for the tip.
Francis Wilson,"A Monster of Desire at the Heart of a Nation," The Independent, 14 January, reviews Jerry White, London in the 19th Century.
Shankar Vedantam,"Twisting Arms isn't as Easy as Dropping Bombs," Washington Post, 29 January, cites Patricia Sullivan's work on 122 post-World War II conflicts between permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, England, France, Russia, and the United States – and weaker military powers. She found that the major powers lost 39% of those conflicts.
David Leonhardt,"You Want Innovation? Offer a Prize," NY Times, 31 January, takes up the history of prizes and grants as incentives. See also: Robin Hanson,"Prizes versus Grants," Overcoming Bias, 31 January; and Daniel Drezner,"I Want More Prizes, DD, 31 January.
Finally, a YouTube of Cassius Clay and Liberace in their prime (ca. 1963). Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the tip.