Arthur's choice: Humans or Invsibles?

Introduction

      The main thesis being analyzed in this article is the way to find out, which world Arthur Montgomery would call his homeland and where he would spend the most of his life when he will have to choose between the worlds of the Invisibles or humans' world. The relevance of the study is determined by wide spreading fake information at the time while original article was created. It caused an increase of attention to this question, as the necessity to analyze it with scientific approach.       The dialectic method of cognition and systematic approach have served as the principal methodological basis of the research. The basis for the study consists of sources and academic works in the subject area. The author applies various general and specific research methods, including theoretical analysis, comparison of information from the sources, logical generalization of data, investigated during the research. The research is based on the principle of historicism, with using historical and comparative method, which is based on the French Annales School methods.       During this research, we will take as an assumption that Arthur makes this choice in 1968 at the day he turned 18, without a possibility to reconsider, and Arthur knows about it.

Arguments

1. Socio-political environment

      “You can’t live in the society and remain free from it” — as the philosophers of the early 20th century noticed. Social being defines public consciousness, and although this fact is insignificant when we talk about Arthur (more on this below), he grows up in 1960-s while staying in the UK and the USA during the presidency of John Kennedy and Lindon Johnson. What has been happening in this decade?       During the first presidential debates between J. Kennedy and R. Nixon in 1960, the Democratic nominee presented the problems the United States had at that moment:       “I’m not satisfied to have fifty percent of our steel-mill capacity unused. I’m not satisfied when the United States had last year the lowest rate of economic growth of any major industrialized society in the world. … I’m not satisfied when the Soviet Union is turning out twice as many scientists and engineers as we are. I’m not satisfied when many of our teachers are inadequately paid, or when our children go to school part-time shifts. … I’m not satisfied when we are failing to develop the natural resources of the United States to the fullest.”       Eventually, these problems were barely affecting Arthur, who was studying in a residential school in England most of the time, but his parents are completely different story. Either they faced these problems themselves or at least heard about it, but, anyway, the things were looking a bit dire. These problems had so large scale that they just could not be ignored… except, maybe, the first Kennedy’s thesis.       And then, the 1961 begins, and Kennedy is being elected as the President, and he is resolute: he published 32 official statements, 22 presidential decrees, gave 12 speeches, addressed to 28 foreign messages, held 7 press-conferences, reorganized 21 department and increased the military budget in 9 billion USD — all of it in the first two month. So began the era of reforms…       And 1960-s were such — the first Xerox was invented, the number of accommodation with home air conditioners significally increased, the first VCR-s were introduced, and computers made another step ahead. The United States themselves were also develop successfully — during John Kennedy’s presidency, the GDP has steadily increased by 5,6% each year, jobless rate decreased to 5% and the inflation rate froze on 1,3% per year (inflation is no to be confused with dinamics of prices of consumer goods!). At the same moment, the Democratic Party declared the policy to overcome poverty, develop the welfare state and higher economic growth rates. And, of course, every student knows about the breakthrough of July, 20th, 1969 — the first Moon landing in history of mankind (Yes, it happened after Nixon’s inauguraton, but the main preparations were made during Kennedy-Johnsons presidency, and that is why it was mentioned in the article).       The situation looks good: equal pay bills for any gender, race or nationality were being adopted; presidential administration increased the duration of unemployment allowance to 3 months and from 1 USD per hour to 1,25, increased the amount of the allowance with social security tax, and decreased the retirement age to 62 years (although the retirement itself was decreased). Meanwhile, Kennedy’s administration was constantly arguing with Congress about creation of opportunities in labor, education, health care and political involvement for higher percent of citizens.       After Lindon Johnson’s inauguration, the policy remained mostly the same — his administration spent on social programs even more and reached an apogee in 1965, when Medicaid and Medicare programs were launched (and both of them still exist). Surely, the American health care is still infamous for its prices, but medical insurance is better than nothing.       For five years, the GDP increased from 661 billion to 980 billion dollars, health care costs increased in three times for the same period (from 3,9 billion to 10,5 billion $), and the population living below the poverty line reduced from 34 million to 32 million. In 1968, minimum salary increased from 1,25 $ to 1,6 $ per hour, and only 25 million people lived below the poverty line at that moment.       National expenditure on higher education increased from 7 billion USD in 1960 to 13 in 1965, and 23 billion — in 1970. The cost of grant-funded state programs in 1968 were six times higher in comparison to 1955.       In 1955, Housing & Urban Development Act was signed, and its task was to improve the living conditions of poor homeowners and veterans. First, it affected Archibald, who was both homeowner and became a veteran long before the first Arthur’s journey, but, again, we will have more discussions on that later.       Overall, the life is therefore positive — all roads open, inventions get governmental support etc., but, on closer examination, all of it isn’t more real than a landscape drawn on a canvas by Archibald in Africa long ago: the drugs became widespread among broad masses of the people, all of the welfare payments were never cost more than 1,5% of GNP, about half of the budget was allocated for military spending, and the goal of this measures, as any international assistance programs in 1960-s, was not to improve living standards, but to garner domestic support to win the next elections and counter the socialists. Memorandum From the Acting Administrator of the Gaud to Secretary of State Rusk is one of the many proofs of it:       “It is increasingly apparent that neither the capability nor the will to resist communist aggression and subversion can exist in the absence of satisfactory rates of economic and social development.”       Also, most of these reforms affected the life of the poorest people and national minorities, while it went by the middle class citizens, which include Arthur’s parents.       Another problem is that Kenney-Johnson administrations could not or don’t want to affect some aspects, such as farm takeover (farms population decreased from 15,635 million people in 1960 to 9,7 million, the number of farms decreased in 27%; in 1965 the government promised to save about one million farms of 3,4 millions with subsidizing, but at the next year only 437 thousand of them got satisfactory income). Agroholdings got majority in the agricultural industry, while the state supported small and medium sized business insignifically.       At the same moment, average salary increased from 9 $ per hour in 1960 to 10 $ in 1967 (both numbers were converted into 1989 USD exchange rate), in other words — in 11 percent. Meanwhile, retail prices for consumer products were increasing in 2,8% each year average, which gives about 15-19% increase for the same eight years, depends on fact do we count the increase in 1967. Some other areas (e.g. and that’s ironical, hospital treatment) became about 33% more expensive. It means that the prices were growing faster than the salary, and the real income of the American population actually decreased.       But there were two things that increased rapidly: in 1960-s the amount of advertisement, especially on the TV, experienced an outstanding increase, and Arthur is definitely not this kind of person who likes advertisement (more on this below). The second trend is more frightening: from 1960 to 1967 the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the USA increased in five times: from 200 to 1000. And, if we already started talking about the missiles…       The beginning of 1960-s became a zenith of military, economical and political power in the USA, who got domestically stable social climate, based on a national consensus, none of any real opposition to the policy of global expansion and common belief in the Manifest Destiny. So, Kennedy’s administration decided that inactivity of the Eisenhower administration might leave the USA without the strategic initiative and cause a tendency for self-determination among the American allies and satellites. There was an urgent need of a splendid little war… and the United States received what their government want. They participated not in one war, but in three, and with addition to these conflicts — come problems with allies and some serious unrest in their own country. We are going to display all of these in chronological order:       1960-1965 — Congo crisis, the five-years-long civil war in central Africa, which ended with establishment of a puppet government with Mobutu Sese Seco as leader       1961 — Bay of Pigs invasion, which ended with total defeat of the American landing forces; an incident with the U-2 spy plane, shot down in the Soviet airspace; another Berlin crisis; and in the “Arthur” universe — an attack of seides on Daisy Town. At least, the last event could be theoretically hushed up and pretend it was just a strong fire in a hot summer day, just to avoid some reputational loss in this already embarrassing situation, but other failures were impossible to ignore. And, finally, the USSR were first to launch human into space and tested AN602 — the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested.       1962 — the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the whole world stood on the eve of a nuclear war. I hope there is no need in any other clarifications.       1963 — unrest in Birmingham, Alabama, appearance of Martin Luther King with his famous speech “I have a dream”. And, mostly important, John Kennedy tried to stop or at least slow down an uncontrolled emission by the Federal Reserve to decrease the rate of inflation. What happened next is also known from the school — the president was murdered in Dallas, Texas, the executor of murderer has been killed two days after, and the customer is still unknown.       1964 — a tariff war between the USA and the western Europe due to increase of duties for chicken meat import.       1965 — the USA enters the Vietnam War — the prolonged and bloody conflict, as senseless as the World War One for majority of its' participants.       1966 — France leaves NATO, successfully launches its own space and nuclear program and then took out a lot of gold from the United States in exchange for dollars. It caused the destruction of Bretton Woods system existed since the end of World War Two.       1967 — two uprisings in the United States. The first is Marsh on the Pentagon — a mass protest against the Vietnam War, this time there was but little blood. Another riot took place in Detroit and happened mostly by economic reasons. By official sources, 43 people were slaughtered, about 1200 — wounded, 412 buildings — destroyed, and about 1700 shops suffered from looters.       1968 — another massive anti-war protest during the meeting of the Democratic party in Chicago, this time — with more victims. Plus, the riot caused by the murder of Martin Luther King. Plus, some unrest in France caused Charles de Gaulle to retire, which absolutely unsuspiciously started after the French president exchanged dollars for gold and left NATO.       The United States got another issue with foreign relations: the United Kingdom still did not join EEC until 1973, France initiated their own nuclear program, and Che Guevara, the famous revolutionaire from Cuba left this island to start another revolutions in Congo and Bolivia.       And in the Great Britain it was not calm — during all of this decade, North Ireland was rioting, and these uprisings were suppressed by a military force.       So, Arthur, living with all of these things as a contemporary, doesn’t see some positive changes: all slogans about social reforms, about “crusade on poverty” are in fact nothing more than another publicity stunt, a signboard, and nothing of it significally affected on people’s life or even made things worse. He watches how America intervene another countries for war profiteering, watches, how these senseless massacres take thousands of lives. He watches how two superstates ready to incinerate each other in the nuclear war at any moment. He watches how the crowd asking for peace and some changes is being dispersed by military police. He watches on the highest “powers that be”, trying to make some real changes and make a better world, and watches how the only reward these people get are bullets in their bodies. And for him, as for millions of other people in this decade, all of it looks like a complete catastrophe of the Western democracy and its ethics. How those people telling about liberty and democracy, losing all their trust factor by starting the few wars all over the world in just nine years, just to make someone’s moneybags heavy. And, what is the most important, Arthur understands that he cannot change anything in this world order. He is nobody for mankind, just another person among 3 and a half billion such as him.       Meanwhile, Arthur has no illusions about a “shining city on a hill”: this system already showed its teeth, in the first movie, when people with a good person who is on a first name basis with municipal service, wearing an expensive suit and driving an expensive car, decided to seize the last roof over someone’s head just to get richer (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 11:45-12:30). It is about Ernest Davido, who already taken over half of the city, (ibid. - 42:27), and this time it worked out at the end only because of Arthur’s journey in the world of the Invisibles.       Even if Arthur would take after his grandfather and move somewhere in Africa to enlighten the local tribes — will he ever be sure that the next day another Davido will not invade these lands destroying everything Arthur created and won’t even notice? Or that the USA and USSR will not start World War three?       Meanwhile, how everything goes in the world of Invisibles? Efforts from Arthur in 1960 finished the long and bloody war, which was not waged by the First Kingdom for enrichment of some of their clans, whose money have nowhere to go. They did not occupy foreign territory, did not put some puppet kings upon the throne, and did not process some orders from Ministry of Defense. They took up arms to defend their homes and families in the war of extermination, they defended their right to exist both as nation and as civilization. War is always a hard labour, but absolutely everyone, from the king to the last town guardian, knew, what they were fighting for, they knew, that their heroism, their valor and their sacrifices will give a chance to save their loved ones and will bring the long-awaited victory closer, they knew, that if they survive until this day and finally return home, they will be met as heroes, because they did not fight for nothing. This war of free peoples of the Invisibles against Necropolis is one of the most direct opposite to Vietnam war ever existing.       This war rallied the nation of the First Kingdom as nothing in a few hundred years never did. And this energy did not fade away after destruction of Necropolis, but directed to the peaceful channel — to restore their ravaged country and keep peace as long as possible. People in such times are prepared to endure any hardships and becomes as open for reforms as never before, because every one of them understands that the worst is over.       In such situation the ruler must put some extreme effort to lose his credit of trust not only among the ordinary people, but even nobility. In monarchy, the power of the ruler depends of his influence, and after such triumph even the most incompetent monarch gets the reputation of a demigod (about chances of getting such triumph by an incompetent ruler… we will leave this question unresolved). Some plots are surely possible, but almost any royal order will be executed without questions because of enormous influence of the monarch. Such sovereign will overshadow his own descendants with his glory… if they did not put some serious effort to win this war or they weren’t designated as his successors in this period or tried to overthrow such sovereign. Otherwise, their authority will be the same as of their own predecessor.       It has already been shown, why the war of the First Kingdom against Necropolis was exactly such, in an article “The Invisibles — capitulationists or warriors?”. Hope it will be translated very soon.       So, Are Arthur and Selenia are worthy? Absolutely are. Selenia was a living symbol of fight against the scourge of Necropolis since her childhood, and she was the one who had the honor to draw the Sword of Power out from the stone and lead free peoples of the Invisibles into battle. (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 31:21-31:49, ibid: 1:09:31-1:10:14), becoming the Chosen, who will destroy the darkness once and for all. And Arthur… by the opinion of ordinary people he is the Chosen himself. He drew the sword from stone (ibid. - 41:22), he destroyed Necropolis singlehandedly in some miraculous way and ended the war with victory (ibid. - 1:29:30). Also, by becoming the owner of the sword, who belonged to the first great king before, destroying the great evil and bringing peace to these lands, he proved that he is just as chivalric, as noble, and as worthy as the previous great king, and that is why he deserves the same respect. The only suspicions could be fueled by the fact that Maltazard was known as the previous owner of the sword.       On the other side, the post-war devastation and lots of problems overwhelming the country after any full-scale wars or disasters, don’t allow to rely on some luxurious life and even make the First Kingdom a dangerous land in some way. Wil it stop the person, who already entered the enemy’s capital, where nobody returned from, without fear or doubt? It barely will.       In this world, Arthur notices much less injustice, less hatred, he watches how the true desire to make the world a better place, he understands that in this world he is able to change everything for the better and that his deed will not be forgotten, but it will be forever. He notices that nobody murders another people for some healthy initiative, but cheer them. Arthur understands, that he is… needed for the First Kingdom, and he is treated “humanely”. Ironically, that the Invisibles are more humane than the humanity itself.       Also, it worth mentioning, that the First kingdom, in however “poor state” it was and whatever devastation it survived, is still remains the state very interested in its existence. If it’s necessary to find a trustworthy person to own Archibald’s house, they will find it and pay enough for silence. But for the state itself, these costs would be pathetic or even profitable.       Intentionally or not, but in “Arthur’s” universe there is a trick to multiply any material fitting in the backpack, in about seven hundred times, and do it in a very simple way. After travelling to the world of humans, the Invisibles save their clothes and appearance, so a conditional traveler could pick some metal shavings with himself and get an impressive steel sheet, which is not distinguishable from a real, not scaled one. The same works with any other material.       There are a few explanations for this “mechanic” for not breaking the fundamental laws of material and energy conservation like ordinary morphing energy to matter to taking the lacking resources from another universes, but still, it is impossible to make a perpetuummobile from such travels.       All of these statements mean the same: for the First Kingdom, ensure cover in the human world is not as hard as infiltrate one spy anywhere else, or even can be potentially profitable. They won’t even have to fake backstory of these treasures, they already have it — these are treasures from Africa received by Archibald from a local tribe as gift, the witnesses (Matassalai) live in a forest nearby and able to prove everything, there is already a credible answer for any questions about the treasure origin and even the expertize will prove that these gems are either local or African origin. The only limitation is some moderation in spending to prevent drawing attention of security services.

2. Surroundings

      One idea, worded by Euripides, “tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are” is well-known all over the world. We should not underestimate the influence of surroundings, which is able to affect on personality much more then it seems at the first glance, and, on the other side, everyone tries to form their social circle according to their own principles and outlook. An academician will barely have a lot of friends among the rabble. Therefore, it is possible to to learn about someone’s personality though analysis of his surroundings. So, let’s take a look on Arthur’s friends and relatives.       The most important person in Arthur’s life is his grandpa, Archibald Suchot. An actor, Ron Crawford, who got this role, descripted his role in such words: “Archibald is a grandpa everyone would dream about” (“Making-of Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard” - 05:09). In the first movie returning Archibald was that one wish Arthur made first (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 8:14). The protagonist read his grandpa’s notes about adventures in Africa “to tatters” — this is the one exact moment film starts from (Arthur et les Minimoys - 1:52-2:38). It is really difficult to overestimate the influence of this person on Arthur’s life.       We know that Archibald is 60 by human chronology, or 6087 by chronology of the Invisibles, so he was born in September, 18, 1899, with an uncertainty within 1-2 days (“Arthur and the Invisibles — the game”, rune “H”). It means that he is a contemporary of both world wars, and with 80% chance participated in the Great War — this is an exact percentage of all French men mobilized during this conflict.       These days, the Third French Republic tried to avenge for defeat in Franco-Prussian War and reclaim Alsace-Lorraine. The Triple Entente were victorious, and France made its vengeance and returned what belongs to it, but still this war went down in history as one of the bloodiest, the most cruel and senseless — it's not a coincidence that many decades later the Vietnam war resembled it in some ways. Tens of thousands death and injuries suffered for a few hundred meters of advance during the assault were considered as an outstanding example of efficient tactics. Prolonged and immobile warfare brought diseases into trenches, so typhus and lice became a daily routine, chemical warfare being used by both sides threatened soldiers with torturous death by chlorine poisoning, but that still was not the worst part. After revolt in Russia in October 1917 the Soviets published some secret agreements which uncovered the true war aims — all these peoples were sent to death for someone’s riches. And it is possible to find some people ready to kill for money, nobody ever will agree to die for it. Also, the main theatre was situated in France, what also brought colossal economic damage and destroyed lots of settlements. And the war hit youth in age of 18-25 the hardest — around 30 percent of irretrievable losses among recruits of this age. The survived ones were later known as a “lost generation”, who feeling only a deep disgust to all wars in the world. This is just for Archibald Suchot, who was, mostly sure, drafted in 1917, but still seen more than enough terrors of war.       Even then, the Great war was not the biggest diplomatic failure — but the Treaty of Versailles surely was. During the negotiations, Marshal Ferdinand Foch stated: “this (treaty) is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years.” He was mistaken in just a couple of month — in 1939 the Second World War started, and this time it was a war of extermination (except for Western Front). France was occupied for a month with a half and stayed under Axis control until Summer-Autumn, 1944. But, this time. Archibald’s participation in this conflict is much less likely, because this time he definitely was abroad.       But first, let’s go back a little bit. In 1928 Archibald worked in Africa as engineer — the date on his diary proves that (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 0:55). Highly likely, he got higher education after the war, but there is also a chance that Archibald was sent to the engineer regiment, we don’t know exactly. Anyway, in 1928 Archibald met the nurse named Daisy, his future wife, and next year their daughter Rose was born. Then, World War two separated the family — while Archibald stayed in Africa for six years, Daisy and Rose returned to “civilized world” — in the book it is stated that they found refuge in Europe, but then the whole setting was changed to the United States, and it’s still unknown did these changes affect these events or not, but it is rather no than yes, because Armand and his son Arthur don’t have the USA citizenship even in the movies. So, Archibald definitely did not participate in World War Two in Europe, but mostly likely, defended the lands of Bogo-Matassalai from outlanders (ibid. - p. 60)       Of all French colonies Gabon is the most likely option — it stayed far behind any frontline, and during the wars literally nothing happened there. The reason of this choice is because any warfare on Matassalai territory, especially using artillery or air force, will threaten the whole existence of the Invisibles world, and they would have to reveal themselves to prevent it, but this did not happen. Although Gabon recognized Vichy France and tried to fight with some troops of de Gaulle, this conflict ended quickly and took place in coastal region only, not in the south-east of country, where is the most suitable location of still Six Lands should theoretically be.       Eventually, Archibald took the side of Resistance in this conflict, because his philosophy stands in sharp contrast to Nazi ideology. All battles in Gabon took place in October-November, 1940, and highly likely Archibald did not participate in any of them directly, but commanded the militia of Bogo-Matassalai while defending their borders from the enemy.       About Bogo-Matassalai we are able to confidently assert that they were more technically advanced than the other aboriginal tribes in this area (at least they discovered iron smithing (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 23:55)), were much stronger physically and deserved the reputation of guerilla warfare masters (“Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes” - 14:22-14:44; ibid. 37:03-37:10) and zealously guarded their lands from any strangers (Archibald was the first European who managed to become their friend), so any colonial administration felt easier to leave this tribe alone and divide the spheres of influence: “you don’t go outside your aboriginal lands and we don’t enter your territory”.       At the end of 1940-s Rose married Armand Montgomery, and July, 30, 1950, Arthur was born. Highly likely, at this moment Archibald already moved to Connecticut, the USA and secretly brought some of the Invisibles oekoumene with him, because he bought this house after the war (“Arthur et les Minimoys”, page 61).       Again, after World War Two things did not get better — the Cold War started. And 1960-s, as it was told before, became an apogee of the arms race. Archibald would barely think positive about everything happens in the world after such things he already lived through. Another paradox of his story is that against this backdrop the tribal-clan society with its simplicity and immediacy seems better than the actual America of 20th century, which is much more heartless.       But where do these statements come from? At least because this trend of thought was widespread among this generation. The most known example of it is the writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who, being seven years older than Archibald, also participated in the Great War. He’ve seen the same things, most of his friends were killed in action he barely survived himself and came to approximately the same conclusions as Archibald. Or Erich Maria Remarque, who was approximately the same age as Archibald (there is one-year difference), but fought on the other side, which was defeated, so Remarque made even more pessimistic conclusion about the whole human existence. Another example is Ernest Hemingway, he is the same age as Archibald, an ardent opponent of militarism, and, like Archibald, spent the majority of Interbellum in Africa, but instead of bringing progress he was going for a hunt.       Fortunately for Archibald, his journey in Africa have had a positive effect on his mental health and even gave a hope for some better future. His visit to the world of the Invisibles were quite often, and at the moment he disappeared, he already knew about the Seven lands more than any human on the Earth, and trusted the Invisibles much more than humans — we should remember where exactly he hid the treasures. Also, Archibald aspired to bring some positive achievements of science, but definitely not means of destruction. And he was very disappointed when Maltazard used the information he got to build his own V-weapon (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 1:13:23-1:14:09).       Archibald does not have many reasons to spend the rest of his life in human world, and the only person able to persuade him not to move in another world for permanent residence is his wife Daisy (“Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard” - 28:06), but the decision she would make in dilemma like this is unpredictable and depends more on the situation when exactly she will have to decide.       Summing up the intermediate result, there is a distinct possibility that Archibald is going to move to the Seven Lands forever, and if Arthur would ever have to decide the same dilemma, and if he decides to continue the work of his grandfather, he will eventually find support.       But what about Arthur’s parents, Rose and Armand Montgomery? We definitely know that they are unemployed — Robert Stanton, the actor who played Armand in the second movie, describes his character in such way: “I play a person, Armand, who feels like he has no over anything in his life. He’s unemployed, you know, he is in a foreign country, because he relies upon his in-laws for money.” (“Making-of Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard” - 6:22-6:33). Also Arthur understands that father cares about him in some way, although the son is not relying too much on parents. What about Armand’s spouse — Rose, she is “unsure, how to be a good mother, and she’s doing her best” (ibid. - 7:17-7:22). Arthur gets it but he also notices and appreciates his mother's effort.       There is absolutely no way for Arthur’s parents to use economical factor as leverage — Arthur will just move to the First Kingdom where he has way more money any of his relatives or acquaintances can offer together. There are higher chances for another outcome — the whole Montgomery family would be in the pay of the First Kingdom and get enough to live with comfort, and the cost would be just miserable in comparison to other expenditure items. It will not be even close to 1000th of a percent for the royal budget.       Summing up the intermediate result, it is a distinct possibility that Rose and Armand have a very limited options to influence on Arthur, ho will highly likely consider their words mostly as an advice, but not an order.       But the influence on Arthur from other students in a residential school because of lacking a common ground. First, Arthur hates this school, it feels in his tone when he talks about it (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 7:56-8:05)       Second, the secret of the Invisibles' existence must remain a secret at all costs, so Arthur is unable to tell anybody anything about his adventures. Otherwise, Archibald would share his discovery with Rose and Armand, but they still don’t know about the Invisibles a thing (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 1:04:30-1:04:46).       Third, any interest to this world is involves learning ethnology, astronomy, political science, maybe philosophy, and, mostly sure — history (although the last one has been almost completely ignored by Arthur until 1960 (“Arthur et les Minimoys” - 2:41-3:00)) — a far cry from ordinary teenagers range of interests. Arthur’s thirst for knowledge will bring him to learning these disciplines (more on this thirst for knowledge below), but he will barely be able to put it into practice during studies — even board RPG-s were invented only in 1974. The only useful consequence applies to general knowledge and making the studies significantly easier somewhere in range of interests. It will be appreciated by teachers, but no more than that.       But there is one area where Arthur might succeed — a sport, especially archery or fencing, because of some practice among the Invisibles. Not both at the same time — archer and fencer in professional sport target different muscle groups during their trainings. The fencer needs flexibility, agility and speed, while the archery is more about strength and sharp eye. But there is also one similar thing for both of these sports — they aren’t really popular, and there is no chance for a stunning success. Even the Olympic champions won’t be as popular as an ordinary football, soccer or box star. Also, in professional sports injuries aren’t accidents but inevitability, and will guarantee to leave sports in the age of 40, and there is a little choice after the end of career: to become either trainer or sportscaster.       There is also another option with much more perspectives, where can be some common interests, and mostly sure they will — the culture. As any teenager, Arthur won’t read nonfiction only and will surely found something to relax. Will it bring him closer to the human world? Barely.       Let’s take a look on the most popular works released from 1961 to 1968. And we will start from two legends: “The Lord of the Rings” and “Star Trek”, released in the USA in 1962 and 1966 respectively. Why is it important? If Arthur notices any of these works, it will considerably increase the chances he will choose the world of the Invisibles. Gene Roddenberry’s TV series praises the explorers, romantics and pioneers, and talking about “The Lord of the Rings” — Arthur will almost definitely find some parallels among Aragorn’s or Frodo’s story and his own biography, and will notice a lot of similarities between Middle-earth and the Seven Lands.       “Chronicles of Narnia”, released about 10 years later, will have approximately the same influence on him, with a little difference — it would be easier for Arthur to associate himself with Peter Pevensie. And now, he found the way to his own Narnia, where the throne in his own Cair Paravel. How many second will Arthur need to question before moving to the First Kingdom after noticing this parallel? Quite a bit, highly likely.       It is hard to underestimate the influence of these works on people’s hearts and minds. As a TV-series inspired by scientific and technological revolution, “Star Trek” started to advance science itself. And it wasn’t the only sci-fi from 1960-s: Poul Anderson, Robert Sheckley, Kurt Vonnegut, Harry Harrison, Robert Heinlein and Frank Herbert (whom we are able to ignore because his “Dune” is too boring for teenagers, and Arthur won’t be interested even if he read it) created their masterpieces. In these years, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was directed by Stanley Kubrick. And in this context, Arthur gets a chance to make a scientific and technological revolution within one world. He will mostly sure use this opportunity because Arthur also inherited his aspiration for creativity, invention and progress. It was shown in the second and the third movies (“Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard” - 16:55; ibid. - 17:04; “Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes” - 30:15; ibid. - 38:59)       At the same time, in 1961, Stanley Martin Lieber, also known as Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko started creating their comix, and in 1962, with the first appearance of Spider-Man, begins the read thread of their stories: “With great power comes great responsibility”, and by “power” it means not only and not just physical strength, but also willpower, leadership and possibilities. And, without a doubt, there is a plethora of power and responsibility to the peoples of the First Kingdom that Arthur already has.       There is also one more passage in Peter Parker’s story — his tries to end the career of superhero and live a normal life always fail. And then, again and again, he has to put on the Spider-Man’s suit and continues his fights against crime as a warning that you cannot escape your destiny.       Summing up another intermediate result, it is possible to conclude that classroom environment and fiction, relevant in 1960-s, will not persuade Arthur to stay in the human world, but in reverse, will push towards the decision to call the Seven Lands a real home.       About the world of Invisibles, we need to mention first that its' society is quite different, with another traditions and customs, which Arthur doesn't know and won't be able to learn in eight years, so he will definitely get the reputation of an eccentric person, but for him it might be for good - nobody will be surprised when he starts some reforms.       There is another question - how dangerous it will be to implement these reforms? Sooner or later, Arthur will try to improve something with a side effect which will shake the mot noble and ancient aristocratic families power. And they won't be glad for it. At some moment, when Arthur starts annoying the nobles, they would ignore any achievements of the heir apparent just to save their own power. In the best case, they will quietly try to derail the project and will make Arthur a reputation of even more eccentric person. In the worst case, they will make an attempt on his life. So, is it a choice of two evils - either court intrigue and reputation of a weirdo or obscurity and reputation of a swot? Not at all.       Arthur is not alone in this struggle. He might get some disrespect, but still, his patron, king Sifrat, has indisputable authority, and it has already been told why - he actually saved the whole country from destruction. Also, the king himself is good to his son-in-law ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:21:06-1:21:14), so there is already one powerful defender.       Let's keep going: because Arthur saved Mino, son of Miro, from Necropolis, and Miro in turn heads the Council ("Art of Arthur et les Minimoys" - p. 53), and also had been friends with the king, Arthur already got support from two the most influential persons in the First Kingdom. Also Miro is a scholar with a very broad outlook (as majority of the scientists in Medieval or Renaissance), so it will be easy to get along with him for well-educated Arthur.       Another Arthur's friend is prince Betameche, Sifrat's son. They became friends during the movie trilogy, and among his value system the throne and power remain somewhere far in the background. He isn't a person who will steer up trouble for Arthur, but, mostly sure, will encourage him.       So, Arthur already has support of commoners, army, and three powerful allies in high society, who will clearly explain the consequences for anyone trying to raise their hands on the heir apparent, and, mostly important, two of them will stay in charge while the boy learns everything he needs to take over the reign when the time will come.       Actually, Arthur will feel safer among the Invisibles and find much more support among them, so the First Kingdom also has an advantage here in comparison to the USA.       The reader might think "Why we still didn't mention Selenia? Isn't she allied to Arthur?". They will be right: she isn't. Selenia is much more important person in Arthur's life, she is the only whose influence on Arthur will grow on time as they become closer, and the princess is so important, that the next paragraph will be dedicated exclusively to her.

3. Princess Selenia

      Princess and her relationship with Arthur deserve a separate study, but for now we will limit ourselves to common information about her biography and Arthur's role in the life of Selenia. That's still a lot.       We know that Selenia was born in August, 3, 1950, she tells it in August, 1st directly ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 51:18-51:22). She is 999 at that moment, and in a couple of days she turns 1000. And because 1 human year is equal to 100 years in the Invisibles chronology (ibid. - 58:48-58:57), it's quite easy to calculate her birthdate.       We also know that at the moment of her birth Maltazard has already been exiled from the First Kingdom and founded the empire on Necropolis, because Darkos is older than her ("Arthur and the Invisibles: the game" - rune "D"). So, the princess grew up in wartime.       And almost after her birth Selenia gets the reputation of a Chosen one, whose destiny is to destroy the evil - even her birth shuffled Maltazard's cards who planned to invade the First Kingdom much earlier, in 1950. These few years' delay allowed free peoples to gather their strength and prepare for war (Unfortunately, not for all, because the Fifth and the Sixth Kingdoms were conquered before 1960). And in 1957, Selenia became the only person who returned from the dungeons of Necropolis, but all of that came in a great cost: her own mother took the daughter's place.       During her time in Necropolis, Selenia faced the power supported the existence of Maltazard and did not allow anyone to enter the city unnoticed (existence of this power is quite a different question, for now it's enough that without such power it is impossible to provide a complete protection of the whole city from spies). Faced in such way that after Selenia returned to the city with two followers, the exactly the same "spirit" not only couldn't or did not want to make their presence known, even for the seides passing by, and Selenia reached Maltazard's dining room ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:05:22-1:05:42), and only after Selenia left Arthur and Betameche they were instantly found and captured. That is another reason why Selenia was considered the Chosen one, that's why she was mandated to infiltrate the city after Arthur drew the sword - nobody else could not only destroy the Evil M, but also return.       After the queen's death ("Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard" - p. 302), Selenia became even more important for the realm. She is already the first child in a royal family, and, according to the laws of the First Kingdom, the eldest married descendant of a king (no matter, male or female), inherits the throne. And by drawing the Sword of Power, Selenia would resemble the first Great King himself: nobody among the Invisibles is more noble than this ancient monarch. Also, Selenia had grown up as a divine beauty, so elites from the whole world of the Invisibles lined up to the marriage proposal.       And this line included Max ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 58:09-58:17) and Maltazard (ibid. - 1:09:26-1:09:37). The first one needed the same as others - to use Selenia as the easiest road to the throne of the most powerful state in the whole World of the Invisibles (and the First Kingdom was such, because Maltazard equalized victory over it to victory over all of the free peoples (ibid. - 1:19:50-1:20:02)). The second one needed exactly the same plus a chance to reverse the curse and return his former body. But no one of them ever treated Selenia in any way except the instrument to achieve their own goals, they didn't care about the princess and her opinion at all, and Selenia was perceptive enough to read their intentions.       And this is the exact reason why Selenia married Arthur - he was the only who accepted her as a person, he wasn't interested in the throne or titles. He loved not a princess, not a Chosen one, not a reincarnation of the first Great King, but just Selenia, without regard to her status and without intention to get anything but reciprocity. Even if Selenia was a beggar, Arthur would love her exactly the same. This is so simple truth that it's hard to believe in it, but for Selenia this pure, selfless love is so much that it means more to her than anything in the world.       And in the Stunning Rapids bar, the princess made sure in it, when she saw Arthur's despair after he did not found reciprocity. Of course, it was a bad manner from Selenia to do so, but, remembering what she's going through, she won't trust only the words - it seemed too good to be true.       And at the gates of Necropolis Selenia finally reciprocated Arthur's love, by giving him the first kiss and making him the heir apparent of the First Kingdom, as the worthiest of all pretenders. And after she failed to destroy the Evil M, the princess admitted the sincerity of her feelings to Arthur ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:12:21-1:12:25).       Overall, Selenia has a soft, calm and balanced nature, she knows what she does and responsible for the consequences. During the journey from the capital to Necropolis, majority of her decisions were planned and developed before, and it's quite easy to notice ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:06:08). Meanwhile, Selenia is no stranger to empathy - she supported the idea to save Darkos, made an excuse before him and helped the son of Maltazard to get back on his feet ("Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes" - 42:55-43:00), what was a surprise even for the Darkos (ibid. - 43:10-43:25).       Meanwhile, Selenia never was an arrogant person; it might be possible to be confused with her the reluctance to fully reveal herself to others, a critical reflection on the world and determination, specific to her equally as all her feminity. This "fake arrogance" might be noticed during her first meeting with Arthur and after their first fight together - that's where skepticism to Arthur comes from. The main character became not only a messenger bringing them the bad news ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 32:25-32:30), but also Sifrat offered Arthur as a worthy marriage candidate (ibid. - 37:50-37:58).       The princess is impetuous, impulsive, strong-willed, and unable to give up before something or someone, whatever of whoever it is. She also has a strong sense of justice. That's why she engaged three heavily armored seides while being armed with only a dagger ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 39:15:39:20), and that's why she tried to draw the Sword of Power for so long (ibid. - 31:21-31:40). Twice ("Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes" - 5:07-5:30).       Also, Selenia will always be against vulgarity, hypocrisy and cynicism, and even more she hates the brutal lusts. That's why she felt so uncomfortable with Max, and it isn't hard to notice - during the conversation, Selenia constantly was looking away, and reacted on club owner's boating with a nervous chuckle ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 58:08-58:28). But when she was dancing with Arthur, princess was looking only at him and keeping the conversation with pleasure (ibid. - 58:45- 59:12)       Selenia is also emotional ("Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard" - 1:11:35) and sensitive ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:21:41), she is capable of empathizing even with the people she doesn't know or barely knows (ibid. - 33:42-33:54), but, despite this, she feels lonely, because everybody views her as either the Chosen One, or a profitable marriage partner. It explains why Selenia is introverted and dislikes talking about her feelings. And, however paradoxical it is, Selenia does not keep her love Arthur in secret - she is just expresses her emotions with caution by force of habit, especially when there is someone else nearby, except for her loved one.       Meanwhile, the feelings of Arthur and Selenia to each other are incredibly strong. Only such love can survive ten months of separation without even an ability to correspond - and that's just for thirty-six hours together. For both of them, these hours are the most important in their whole life ("Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard" - 21:38-22:03), and it means only the one exact thing - there is no power in the whole objective reality ever able to destroy their relationship. They won't just try to cheat each other - they just won't consider any person of an opposite gender as romantic interest, because they are absolutely sure that they had found their other halves and not going to look for them anymore. If we are going to compare it with some other examples in literature, the closest analogue should be Beren and Luthien from "The Silmarillion".       In conclusion, it is possible to assume that Arthur is ready to stay among the Invisibles just for Selenia, and Selenia, in her turn, is be ready to join Arthur wherever he would live. Moreover, their personalities are very similar, both of them have a lot of common character traits, interests and conversation topics. Both of them are happily married, and won't even think about looking for a different spouse.

4. Arthur's personality

      Everything mentioned before means nothing without the most basic argument - Arthur's personality. While social being defines public consciousness, the majority of aspects affecting individual conscience depends on him or her. So, who is Arthur Montgomery?       Because Arthur is an actual protagonist of the story, it is impossible to study his personality completely in this article, so, as with Selenia, we will have to limit ourselves to common information.       Arthur's biography has already been shown in the previous paragraphs, and here we will make a summary: Arthur was born July, 30, 1950 ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 6:06-6:12), studies in a residential school in England, visits his grandparents in Connecticut, the United States, regularly during his vacations. The parents' influence on his life is quite insignificant. In 1960, Arthur made his first journey to the world of the Invisibles, looking for rubies - this is the main task he mentions during the conversation with Betameche (ibid. - 26:54-27:01)       But, at the end of this journey, not the treasure means for Arthur the most - the first movie ends with Arthur looking forward to meet Selenia again ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:31:51-1:31:58). And after Arthur got a call for help from the Seven Lands (or at least he thought so), he prepares or another travel immediately, and even escape his parents' car on a gas station ("Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard" - 30:35), and after the telescope did not work, agrees for a dangerous way of transfer using the vines (ibid. - 32:37). This deed speaks for itself.       As it was mentioned before, all these intrigues and back alley stuff doesn't interest Arthur at all, and for his Selenia and Betameche are personalities first and royal family members - second.       However, Arthur isn't an opportunist - his affable greeting before the king was nothing more than just a politeness ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 32:12), and his so-called gloating on Davido was reasoned firstly because Arthur knows this person well, he knows why he arrived and that's why he dislikes him - Davido has already visited this place before. He was immediately recognized and called by name, and his visit with the documents wasn't the first, if we remember about Daisy's lines: "What were you need this time?" and "You didn't waste your time..." (ibid. - 11:45-12:00).       The same story with the dialogue between Arthur and Miro before the journey to Necropolis - Miro told about his son Mino disappeared in Necropolis, right where Arthur goes, and the protagonist answered just "Rely on me" ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 41:39-41:51). Arthur didn't make promise to get Mino out of the cursed city, meaning the context, he promised to tell Miro what happened and is his son alive. This short conversation shows Arthur as an altruistic person ready to help others if there is even a small chance to do it.       Another controversial point of Arthur's biography is the destruction of Necropolis. With destruction of Maltazard's V-weapon, Arthur also destroyed the whole enemy's capital and, in fact, won the whole war ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:25:33-1:26:00). And then, trying to accuse the protagonist, it is quite hard to mention an ordinary zugzwang - the situation where any result is bad.       The alternatives are much more bloody - this flooding tunnels systems only seems useless, because the gates held the water pressure for long enough, but it should not last forever ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 1:20:06), and the capital of the First Kingdom, just as many other settlements connected to it by tunnels, would also be eventually flooded, what would cause a sustaining enormous numbers of casualties, mostly - among civilians, and then - the defeat in war. And Maltazard is not the one who can be called a paragon of chivalry and righteousness.       Let's make a suggestion that the gates could hold the pressure. And things don't look much better - almost all underground supply lines would be cut. In fact, Necropolis got an opportunity to siege half of the cities of the free peoples without a single soldier, and wins because of that - supply and logistics are the crucial parts of any warfare, and the free peoples will lose it almost completely.       The next suggestion: the V-weapon would not be finished or would break without flooding anything. Would the things get better? No. Seides literally stand at the gates of the First Kingdom ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 34:06), the free peoples are quite far from victory and, this means in turn that the way to Necropolis will be difficult, years-long and filled with sweat, blood and death.       And even at the day when the united army of the Six Lands would stand at the walls of Maltazard's lair, this war would not end with little bloodshed. The Evil M is one of those persons with an indomitable will, and he would stand to the last - the second movie, where he continued his struggle even without troops and country, proves it ("Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard" - 1:13:45-1:15:35)       In these conditions, the worst case would be the genocide of the whole Necropolis executed by Maltazard's order to leave his enemies only ruins. The best case is a prolonged and tough battle in the "belly of the beast", with some inevitable collateral damage.       So, with alternatives in mind, the destruction of the V-weapon and Necropolis with it turns into the lesser evil. And before telling the author something like "there's no treasure more valuable than sentient being's life", you should remember that there actually is something more valuable: two or more sentient beings' lives. This is a horrifying nature of all wars in the world - somebody always must die. The only way possible is to cause as few deaths as possible.       It is unlikely that Arthur planned everything from the beginning and thought about the consequences in such perspective, but with the destruction of the V-weapon he chose the best way possible - after the destruction of Necropolis the war finished less than in a year with a complete victory of free peoples of Seven Lands, so in 1961, soldiers of the First Kingdom were gathering food for a royal feast in the capital ("Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard" - 1:31-5:40). Nobody in the world would order the soldiers to do it in a wartime.       So, Arthur definitely does not have any sadistic tendencies and he is definitely not a villain. We already discussed the way Arthur is going to rule, but while he is still learning and being covered by his surroundings. And he will eventually learn, he has the great drive for knowledge ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 2:09-2:40) and experiments ("Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes" - 38:59). The only thing need to do is to show him the direction to learn and generate some interest which is quite an easy task for Archibald. Prince will do the rest with pleasure - he has more than enough energy and curiosity for it.       Among the other Arthur's personal traits are optimism and strong will - another part of his principle "if there is even a little chance to make things better, it is worth the risk". There is no sense to prove that Arthur doesn't have it - without these personal qualities the whole movie trilogy is impossible.       Arthur is self-confident and able for some resolute actions - it was shown in the episode where he stood up to defend Selenia ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 39:11-39:14), although sometimes this determination turns into recklessness (ibid.). He is never out of control in a difficult situations and keeps thinking straight even when he is on the brink of death - a very useful personal feature for a monarch and general - which is shown in the episode on a river (ibid. - 47:15-49:18). Arthur is also able to find an unusual solution of a problem, and that increases the chance that even choosing between two evils he will found a third way (ibid.). He is smart enough, he definitely knows what he needs and that is the reason why he also will be far from impressed with any advertisement, which will only bother him while he looks for some really important information.       But Arthur has some other important characteristics which confirm his positive side, and the first in this list are perceptiveness, tact and politeness - all of that was shown during the dialogue with Selenia in the calyx ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 51:18-51:49). He is also a quite good negotiator - he managed to convince Betameche, whom he never met before, to open the passage to the world of the Invisibles, although he started the conversation from afar (ibid. - 26:17-27:25). And, during the third movie storyline he managed to et along with his former enemy, who slept and saw him killing the heir apparent from the First Kingdom ("Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes" - 43:55-44:10).       Meanwhile, Arthur doesn't hold a grudge for anyone but Davido, and even offered Darkos to resolve their issues peacefully after disarming him ("Arthur et la Guerre des Deux Mondes" - 32:34-32:38), then he warned Darkos about the tunnel (ibid. - 35:00-35:10), and after that - even saved his life (ibid. - 42:24-43:00)       But, with all these achievements, Arthur is not the one who likes to show off. The episode with a watering system is nothing but a usual childlike joy when everything works as intended, combined with a will to find an area of appreciation ("Arthur et les Minimoys" - 5:24-5:40). Speaking about the Sword of Power - it is quite difficult to understand the real reason of such delight - either because Arthur was really close to death and somehow managed to survive, or because he defeated three enemies during his first real sword fighting, or because Selenia appreciated his efforts, or even because it turned out that Arthur is the Chosen one (ibid - 40:21-40:47). Anyway, Arthur dislikes talking about his merits.       The braggarts are also very thirsty for power, much more than the others, but Arthur does not have it - during the whole three movies the heir apparent didn't think who is he actually and never tried to use his high-profile position to reach his goals. With all these character traits mentioned earlier, Arthur is a very competent leader, he is as good in it as Selenia.       He also doesn't have any prejudice to the Invisibles, and his love to Selenia as strong and Selenia's love to him. Only such feelings could appear in just 36 hours and then withstand ten months of separation - all of that was already mentioned before.       In conclusion, Arthur is courageous, kind, impetuous, perceptive, chivalric, hard-working, self-confident and, with the bright mind, he seeks for knowledge - that is enough to become a good king. At the same time, he is able to make correct decisions in unordinary situations and understands his responsibility before the people of the First Kingdom, so he would consider moving to the world of the Invisibles reasonable.

Conclusion

      The study allows us to conclude that:       1. There are almost no perspectives for Arthur in the human world, because he would not be able to express his talents and make his dream come true because of his quite low social status for it, social closeness to new ideas, crucially changing the way to live, and some peculiarities of the bourgeois democracy in its final form, which already made the reforms and upward social mobility work wrong.       2. Meanwhile, in the Invisibles' world Arthur already got the second-ranking position in the First Kingdom, which is also experience a nationwide enthusiasm and very open for reforms. Although there is a huge technological gap, which, If Arthur would want, is quite possible to shorten, there are much more perspectives and opportunities there than in the human world.       3. The most influential persons among the Arthur's environment would rather encourage him to move in the Invisibles' world forever. The fiction and art of the 1950-s 1960-s would rather push him towards this decision than the opposite.       4. Although the reforms would not be welcomed by all of the highest nobility, which Arthur would have to deal with, he still has some reliable patrons in the First Kingdom and will be protected well enough. He wouldn't have to rule on his own from the very beginning.       5. Arthur and Selenia love each other above all else, and there is virtually nothing able to ruin their relationship. They understand each other like no one else, dream to spend their lives together and will be happily married.       6. Arthur has some personal traits to become a great ruler and a reformer himself, and he is smart enough to analyze the situation and understand exactly the same what any reader already knows when he got to this part of an article.       So, the 1968 started, and Arthur Montgomery has to choose - either stay in the human world and spend the whole life there, or move to the Invisibles' world forever. And after he weighted the pros and cons, he makes a decision. And when the heir apparent was asked: "What is your homeland?" he will definitely answer: "The First Kingdom".       But it doesn't mean that he will stop visiting the human world, he will surely appear there from time to time to visit his parents or look for some knowledge to share with his people, but he wouldn't stay there for long.       To make a beautiful ending of this article, let's make a quote of duke Leto Atreides: "A great man doesn’t seek to lead. He’s called to it. And he answers." And so Arthur will do - he will answer the call from the Invisibles.

Bibliographic list:

Sources:

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Historiography:

Theses and Dissertations

21. Antyukhina-Moskvichenko, V., History of France 1870-1918: speciality 07.00.03 "World History": thesis for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences / V. Antyukhina-Moskvichenko; 1963. - 812 p.: Text: Direct.

Monographs

22. Garth, John. Tolkien and the Great War / John Garth. — Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2003 — 432 p. — URL: https://archive.org/details/tolkiengreatwart00gart/mode/2up (accessed: 05.09.2021) Access: free 23. Brogan, H. John Kennedy / H. Brogan. - Fenix, 1997 - 384 c. - ISBN 5-222-000-63-X. - Text: Direct. 24. Zinn, H. A People's History of the United States: 1492–present / H. Zinn, - Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005 - 729 p. - ISBN 0-06-083865-5. - Text: Direct. 25. Ivanyan E. From George Washington to George Bush: White House and Press / E/ Ivanyan. - Moscow, Izdatelstvo Politicheskoy Literaturi, 1991 - 368 p. - ISBN 5-250-00985-9. - Text: Direct. 26. Ivanyan, E. White House: presidents and policy / E. Ivanyan. - M. Politizdat, 1975 - 559 p. - no ISBN. - Text: Direct. 27. Kissinger, H. Diplomacy / Kissinger, H. - Simon & Schuster, 1994 - 912 p. - ISBN 0-671-65991-X. - Text: Direct. 28. Lan, V. The USA in the war and postwar years / V. Lan. - M. : Science, 1978 - 685 p. - no ISBN. - Text: Direct. 29. Safonov, V. US Constitution and social and economic rights of the citizen: historical and legal research / V. Safonov. - Moscow. : Norma, 2007. - 272 p. - ISBN 978-5-468-00091-5. - Text: Direct. 30. Sogrin, V. Myths and realities of American history / V. Sogrin. - M. : Mysl, 1986 - 256 p. - no ISBN. - Text: Direct. 31. Sogrin, V. Central problems of the USA history / V. Sogrin, edited by L. Troitskaya. - M. : Ves Mir, 2013 - 352 p. - ISBN 978 5 7777 0537 2. - Text: Direct. 32. Travkina, N. The USA: parties, budget, politics / N. Travkina, edited by V. Vasilyev. - Moscow, : Nauka. 2008 - 275 p. - ISBN 978-5-02-035953-6. - Text: Direct. 33. Utkin, A. USSR in siege / A. Utkin. - Moscow : Eksmo, Algorithm, 2010 - 288 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-41653-0 - Text: Direct. 34. Feofanov, O. The USA: adverticement and society / O. Feofanov. - Moscow, : Mysl, 1974 - 262 p. - no ISBN. - Text: Direct.

Science and popular-science articles

35. The Second World War in the French Overseas Empire http://worldatwar.net/timeline/france/empire40-45.html (accessed: 05.09.2021) Access: free 36. Lekarenko, O. "Chicken war" between the USA and EEC 1962-1964 // "Cyberleninka" - URL: URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/v/kurinaya-voyna-mezhdu-ssha-i-ees-1962-1964-gg (accessed: 01.09.2021) Access: free 37. Lyutov, A. Main stages of state regulation of the employment relationship in the USA: from T. Roosevelt to W. Clinton — URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/v/osnovnye-etapy-gosudarstvennogo-regulirovaniya-trudovyh-otnosheniy-v-ssha-ot-t-ruzvelta-do-u-klintona (accessed: 01.09.2021) Access: free 38. The Invisibles — capitulationists or warriors? - URL: https://ficbook.net/readfic/6831026 (accessed: 01.09.2021) Access: free