If you want to pass any information from the client-side (JavaScript) to the server-side (Sinatra), you need to use AJAX or something like Comet. You should serialize, encode your data, send it using XMLHttpRequest and handle in the server-side code. After that, you may return an answer to your client-side.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.