We often hear George Santayana’s line being trotted out about those who cannot remember the past being condemned to repeat it. George is right. So take this chance to deep dive into history. You can get up to speed on The Romanovs before Mad Men’s Matthew Weiner makes them hot stuff on Amazon Prime. There’s talks on Karl Marx and his Irish connections, the sinking of the RMS Leinster whose centenary falls on October 10th, Hitler’s women pilots in the Third Reich, women in Hollywood in the ‘30s, as well as a star turn by our very own Brian McMahon — he of the Brand New Retro parish, p14 — whose talk ‘The Inevitable Seduction (Ireland and Pop Culture)’ will take place in Drumcondra Library on Thursday September 27.