This is interesting:
Oldest human fossil adds 400,000 years to our history – CBS News.
Month: March 2015
History News Network | This Is What Right-to-Work Means
Too few of us know enough about this benign sounding policy: “the right to work.” As with most euphemisms, this phrase obscures more than it illuminates. Therefore, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer’s brief summary of the history of this policy is instructive. She ponders: “That guarantee certainly sounds benign, if not all-American. Who could be against the right to work, especially in a prolonged recession?” Read the entire article here:
History News Network | This Is What Right-to-Work Means.
The Return of the 19th Century
This is an interesting comparison between the nineteenth and the twenty first centuries: The Return of the 19th Century. There does seem to be some noteworthy similarities between now and then (at least on the surface). It’s something to think about.
Three Lessons from the French Revolution European Policymakers Should Keep in Mind | History News Network
We don’t usually think about learning economic lessons from the French Revolution, but Rebecca L. Spang offers some interesting lessons from this unlikely source. As she explains: “The moment has come to diversify our analogy portfolio.” For her lessons go here:
History News Network | This Is When Muslims in the Middle East Turned to Extremism
The historical context laid out by Richard Drake is important to remember as we try to understand the worldview of radical Islamic terrorists. Richard Drake: “When considering the emergence of radical Islam or any of its actions down to the Charlie Hebdo massacre of 2015, it is necessary to keep in mind the deep historical background extending all the way to Sèvres. These distant events are in the foreground of the Muslim radicals inspired by Osama bin Laden.” Read the entire article here:
History News Network | This Is When Muslims in the Middle East Turned to Extremism.
The Big Four at the Paris Peace Conference (1919)
A Deadly Assault on Academic Freedom | Geoffrey R. Stone
This is becoming all too common! The Board of Governors’ recent decision to close the University of North Carolina Law School’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity is only the most recent attempt to undermine the academic freedom that is so vital to our progress as a nation. This is something that we should all be concerned about. As the law professor Geoffrey R. Stone writes: “What we are seeing now in North Carolina is an ugly resurgence of an attempt by political elements outside the university to censor, discipline, and punish those inside the university who take positions that annoy, offend, or disturb them. This is unconscionable.” Read the full article here:
A Deadly Assault on Academic Freedom | Geoffrey R. Stone.
America’s Forgotten Images of Islam – WSJ
Peter Manseau reminds us that “[t]he American conversation about Islam may be noisy and confusing, but it isn’t new. And these forgotten images remind us to avoid the old tendency to portray Muslims—now millions of our fellow citizens—solely as caricatured villains in scary stories or cardboard paragons in moral ones.” Read the entire article at:
America’s Forgotten Images of Islam – WSJ.
WSJ: “A painting of U.S. Navy Lt. Stephen Decatur battling Muslim sailors, Tripoli, August 1804. Photo: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, Washington Navy Yard”
History News Network | Sex object, germ killer, battleground – the wonderful history of the beard
Some of you might find this interesting:
History News Network | Sex object, germ killer, battleground – the wonderful history of the beard.
Can teaching patriotism protect France? – Ideas – The Boston Globe
Robert Zaretsky argues that teaching patriotism and national values in France could make a difference in dealing with their Muslim population. Although he admits, “Singing ‘a Marseillaise’ or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance may not be enough. But if teachers can help students want to live up to those ideals, and live together, it may be some kind of beginning.” I think that Zaretsky has confused the universal ideals (Liberté, égalité, fraternité) championed during the French Revolution with patriotism/nationalism. Fostering nationalism in schools is the exact opposite of what they need to do! Instead they need to start living up to their professed universal values (something we need to work on as well). Anyone familiar with the history of nationalism would balk at the suggestion that patriotism is the solution.
Can teaching patriotism protect France? – Ideas – The Boston Globe.
UK teaching “invented” history as EU propaganda, says Cambridge professor | Cambridge News
“David Abulafia, a professor of Mediterranean history, told the Daily Telegraph schools were ‘papering over’ past disunity on the continent to further integration under the European Union.” If true, this would unlikely lead to the desired results. The best way to promote unity is to honestly confront the past. It was not pretty and most people would not want to repeat it. Let students learn from that past. Repressing the past as a way to build unity has not been successful. This was tried and failed in the former Yugoslavia.
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588)
History Chick in AZ 