Clearing post and page revisions will greatly reduce the size of a WP database - up to 90% in some cases - with a huge return in speed.
Use EXPLAIN on your slow SELECT statements to see the queryplan. Now you can guess why things are slow and eat up all memory. Did you index the right columns?
Is your SQL written correctly?
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.