Happy American Thanksgiving 2013

These days Norman Rockwell is looked at rather cynically as portraying an Americana that did not exist - an idealized, sanitized version of how things were.  But as with any artist - and make no mistake Rockwell was an artist - behind many of his works lies a message beyond the idealism and sentimentality.  In this 1945 cover for Saturday Evening Post his Thanksgiving message was not about turkey, big family dinners or even giving communal thanks.  Look at the face of this mother and tell me what she is giving thanks for?

I only wish that every mother - no everyone, American, Canadian, British, whatever nationality - could give thanks today for the safe return of their loved ones from one of our modern battlefields.

To my American friends and family Happy Thanksgiving.

November 28 - 1814:  The Times in London is printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer; the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience.