Make sure your values match your column family type. It appears your column family either is a BytesType or has no type associated with it, so pycassa will only accept string values. You can map all your values to str with a list comprehension with a nested dict comprehension (the latter requires python 2.7 and up).
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.