I just bought a book I�d been wanting for a while. It�s about the West Coast during the Civil War � how often do you hear _anything_ about that?! More specifically, the book focuses on the Russian fleet sent to San Francisco Bay during the Civil War and stayed there for a year, implicitly to support the Union. The Russian fleet was incredibly popular in San Francisco, and parades, dinners, etc. were held in their honor. Everyone here was worried about Confederate raiders and British and French ships attacking targets along the West Coast, but the Union had almost no naval presence here, so the Russian presence was very much appreciated. The cover blurb notes that Russia was the only major European power that didn�t support the Confederacy; I gather the Russians felt the Union was a major bulwark against British power, hence the Russian fleet hanging out in San Francisco for a year for moral support.

It�s always interesting to read about unexplored aspects of history. It's also interesting to read more about the international backdrop to the Civil War, another thing that is largely skimmed over in textbooks. I can remember one teacher saying that the British and French nobly restrained themselves from interfering in the Civil War, which is flat-out untrue. They didn�t send troops, but they did send aid and such to the Confederate side.

Or, what about the US and Canada engaging in skirmishes and spats well into the mid-1800�s, e.g., the Aroostoock War? Speaking of odd stuff no one has ever heard about, did you know about the time France invaded Mexico? Neither did I, in any detail, until I happened to read about it a few months back. Anyway, this all happened around the time of the US Civil War and definitely tied to colonial powers trying to influence the New World. While the French and British and others might not have landed troops in US during the Civil War, but they did right next door in Mexico, a not very subtle message to the US (or, obviously, to Mexico). After the Civil War, the US sent troops and eventually established a naval blockade to prevent French reinforcements from landing and so on. �Get the hell off our continent� or some such (only WE can exert influence over our neighbors, thank you very much). I suppose this all goes to show the colonial powers were right that the US was going to be an incredible pain in their collective asses (except perhaps Russia, which I imagine was happy to see another power annoying the British and French and etc....although, in the longer view, the Soviet Union certainly came to resent American interference in their sphere of influence, and vice versa. Thus go international affairs.).

It�s starting to make me a bit annoyed, though, because the history we Americans are taught in school is biased towards the East Coast and occasionally South; the West Coast gets a brief mention during the Gold Rush and not much else. California apparently started to exist in 1849 and ceased to exist sometime around 1850. What about the Bear Flag Republic, from which our state flag derives? I suppose it could be worst: the rest of the world barely warrants a mention at all in US history textbook, as if everything happens in a tidy little vacuum where nothing has any influence on anything else. �Lies to children� as Terry Pratchett and co-authors phrased it in one of his non-fiction books. By this, they meant drastic oversimplifications that are supposed to make it easy for children to �learn� something devoid of complications and details. The problem is most people don�t go on to learn the full stories behind the �lies to children� they learned in school. As a result, we all have an incomplete and simplified understanding of so many things. History and science are especially impacted because they involve such complex, intertwined systems. It�s a bit scary�no, actually, it�s a lot scary.