Happy Black Friday
For those who are out stampeding each other for flat-screen TVs, and for those forced to work so others can … Continue Reading Happy Black Friday
William H. McNeill – History as Myth
A few years ago, the great historian William H. McNeill died. I still have surprisingly endearing memories of reading his … Continue Reading William H. McNeill – History as Myth
Ship in Air
Here’s a nice anecdote told twice, first from some anonymous Irish source, and then Seamus Heaney’s version of it in … Continue Reading Ship in Air
Blindness, War & History
(this essay was originally published in the Fall, 2014 issue of the Concho River Review. Since it is no longer … Continue Reading Blindness, War & History
Week of the Bomb: Friday
What to make of any of these voices? This week’s posts—the words not of those protesting the bomb after, but … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Friday
Week of the Bomb: Thursday
Finally, voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When The New Yorker dedicated its entire August 31, 1946 issue to John Hersey’s … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Thursday
Week of the Bomb: Wednesday
Many of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project had families in Europe, or were refugees from Europe themselves, … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Wednesday
Week of the Bomb: Tuesday
Impossible decisions remain impossible, even after they’ve been made. Following on yesterday’s post, here are the voices of those scientists … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Tuesday
Week of the Bomb: Monday
With the anniversary of the Trinity Test just passed, and the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week, I realize the … Continue Reading Week of the Bomb: Monday
Walt Whitman’s Letter to Parents Whose Son Died in the Civil War
Washington August 10 1863 Mr and Mrs Haskell, Dear friends, I thought it would be soothing to you to have … Continue Reading Walt Whitman’s Letter to Parents Whose Son Died in the Civil War
The Past is Not Dead: There is Only Continuity
from Peter Ackroyd, at the end of his first volume of the history of England: Other forms of continuity are … Continue Reading The Past is Not Dead: There is Only Continuity
The Popular Press in 1918 was Garbage Too
From Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West, published just over a century ago. Our bad relationship with information and disinformation … Continue Reading The Popular Press in 1918 was Garbage Too
History is An Accident
from Peter Ackroyd, at the end of his first volume on the history of England: When we look over the … Continue Reading History is An Accident
A Housewife in the 1960s
One of the saddest interviews from Studs Terkel’s Working (talk about Human Pages!) comes from a Chicago housewife named Therese … Continue Reading A Housewife in the 1960s
Angela Merici & the Education of Women & Girls in the early 1500s
from Thomas Cahill: They were a group of well-born Lombardian ladies, led by Angela Merici, who came together to educate … Continue Reading Angela Merici & the Education of Women & Girls in the early 1500s
A Gallery of Greeks & Romans
Here are a few dozen faces I always go back to, from the collection of Greek & Roman sculpture I … Continue Reading A Gallery of Greeks & Romans
Jews & Muslims on Pilgrimage Together in the 1300s
From Mark Cohen’s Under Crescent & Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages: An aspect of Jewish-gentile sociability under Islam … Continue Reading Jews & Muslims on Pilgrimage Together in the 1300s
What the Earliest Forms of Literacy Looked Like
from David Carr’s book on literacy and the creation of literature in the ancient world: … many ancient texts were … Continue Reading What the Earliest Forms of Literacy Looked Like
Voices from 1900-1914
Below are a few dozen voices from the early twentieth century, culled from Philipp Blom’s The Vertigo Years: Europe, 1900-1914. … Continue Reading Voices from 1900-1914
Martin Luther Reinvents the German Language
When, in 1522, Martin Luther agreed to a staged kidnapping that would keep him safe from Catholic and other authorities, … Continue Reading Martin Luther Reinvents the German Language
Primo Levi’s Hardest Thoughts on the Holocaust
From Primo Levi’s 1986 book, The Drowned and the Saved, remembering the concentration camps: On Levi’s own—and others’—guilt at having … Continue Reading Primo Levi’s Hardest Thoughts on the Holocaust
Who are These Faces & What are Their Stories?
At an antique store a few years ago, I spent $10 on an envelope of old photos. I love to … Continue Reading Who are These Faces & What are Their Stories?
Burned as a Witch in Ireland in 1895
From Frazer’s Golden Bough: In March 1895 a peasant named Michael Cleary, residing at Ballyvadlea, a remote and lonely district … Continue Reading Burned as a Witch in Ireland in 1895
Sleepwalking into World War One
From Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914: Do we really need to make the case … Continue Reading Sleepwalking into World War One
“It is so hard to die”: An Account of Depression from 1809
One of the most heartbreaking stories I know relates the last day in the life of Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis … Continue Reading “It is so hard to die”: An Account of Depression from 1809
Vermeer in Bosnia
If anyone asks you about the Why of art, especially in the face of atrocity or just its apparent impracticality—for … Continue Reading Vermeer in Bosnia
Oswald Probably Did It
It took 9/11 to show me the real damage conspiracy theories can do. Since then, the gleeful and gullible ability … Continue Reading Oswald Probably Did It
Neanderthal Compassion, Neanderthal Burials
from the book Becoming Human: Innovation in Prehistoric Material and Spiritual Culture: Caring for severely disabled members of the community … Continue Reading Neanderthal Compassion, Neanderthal Burials
Did Neanderthals Have Language?
from Richard Klein and Blake Edgar’s The Dawn of Human Culture: The Neanderthals are fascinating because they were so … Continue Reading Did Neanderthals Have Language?
Eleanor Roosevelt Finds Herself
From Geoffrey Ward’s biography of the Roosevelts comes this moving account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Dickensian childhood, complete with neglectful mother … Continue Reading Eleanor Roosevelt Finds Herself
The Invention of Harmony
from two essays on the origins of the aesthetic impulse in Becoming Human: Innovation in Prehistoric Material and Spiritual Culture: … Continue Reading The Invention of Harmony
(Brain) Size Matters
from Richard Klein’s The Dawn of Human Culture: More research is required to demonstrate that the brain enlarged abruptly … Continue Reading (Brain) Size Matters
Notre Dame & the Liberation of Paris in 1944
A moment from Matthew Cobb’s Eleven Days in August, on the liberation of Paris in 1944: [the voice of … Continue Reading Notre Dame & the Liberation of Paris in 1944
“One day the Gestapo hanged a child”: God on Trial at Auschwitz
The oldest book about religion on my shelves is Karen Armstrong’s A History of God. The note inside still says … Continue Reading “One day the Gestapo hanged a child”: God on Trial at Auschwitz
A Twelfth Century Love Letter: Heloise Remembers Abelard
An amazing passage from a letter of Heloise to Abelard, those twelfth-century lovers who ended up in a nunnery and … Continue Reading A Twelfth Century Love Letter: Heloise Remembers Abelard
George Orwell in the Coal Mines
As an addition to my last post, here is George Orwell’s complete description of going down into the coal mines … Continue Reading George Orwell in the Coal Mines
George Orwell & Empathy
As usual, George Orwell says it better than anybody. Here he is in his 1937 book The Road to Wigan … Continue Reading George Orwell & Empathy
Happy Black Friday
For those who are out stampeding each other for flat-screen TVs, and for those forced to work so others can … Continue Reading Happy Black Friday
Don Henley’s Mesopotamian Connection: “The Boys of Sumer”
I’ve tried submitting this to many prestigious journals of Ancient Near Eastern history, but no one seems to believe that … Continue Reading Don Henley’s Mesopotamian Connection: “The Boys of Sumer”
Walt Whitman, “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim”
Walt Whitman, early 1863, looking on the Civil War dead: A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim … Continue Reading Walt Whitman, “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim”
Happy Black Friday
For those who are out stampeding each other for flat-screen TVs, and for those forced to work so others can … Continue Reading Happy Black Friday
