Brief but blunt and refreshing, this interview in TheAtlantic.com with Eric Foner talks about teaching history effectively. Here’s my favorite section (bold at the end is mine): Do you have other specific advice for what teachers can do to more effectively instruct history students? The first thing I would say is that we have to…
This is a really fantastic bit of historical trivia. I’d love to see a longer piece on it, or even a whole book of typos that changed the world. Wouldn’t that be a good read? NORAD Tracks Santa’s Path on Christmas Eve Because of a Typo
Well. Not really new voices, but at least contemporary ones. Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and I woke up to Eric Foner and a host of NRP personalities reading it out over the airwaves. http://www.npr.org/2013/11/19/246095479/gettysburg-address-turns-150 Like many American middle school students, I had to memorize the first paragraph of the speech,…
Who knew Ken Burns was as good on camera as he is behind it? “We have to keep the wolf from the door. We tell stories to continue ourselves. We all think an exception is going to be made in our case and we’re going to live forever. And being a human is actually arriving…
Happy Halloween! I love this article on Slate from Jefferson Pooley (associate professor of media and communication at Muhlenberg College) and Michael Socolow (associate professor of communication and journalist at the University of Maine) who recently published the book War of the Worlds to Social Media. I haven’t read it, but the article makes me…
I saw this announcement about a new group of folks who are interested in re-branding history so that it once again becomes an unquestionably valued part of our education and lifestyles and thought I would share.
NPR has the right idea. This week we need to be reminded of the history of the Roma people instead of just focusing on fear and stereotypes. In their story “New Stories Dredge Up Old Stereotypes of Europe’s Roma” Dr. Jennifer G. Illuzzi, assistant professor of history at Providence College in Rhode Island, talks briefly…
Talk about history we need: Professor Henry Louis Gates and PBS have put together a six part mini-series, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” that starts with the black man who accompanied Ponce de Leon as they first stepped foot on Florida and ends with President Barack Obama.* The description from their website reads:…
Has anyone else noticed the concept of “cool” seems to have cycled around again and is being examined and pondered and mused upon? Or maybe it’s one of those topics that’s always floating around and I just noticed. Either way, this is a fun examination of the history of dance as a representation of “cool”…
Here’s a thoughtful essay from someone who is using history to find insights into his own dating life and to reflect on some of the mistakes he has made in the past. This information comes up time and time again as people explain and re-explain the many ways that gas-lighting women is part of our…
Advisers Go Extra Lengths to Keep Wealthy Clients, New York Times, October 15, 2013 This is not an article I would normally read. I’d rather not know about the lengths that financial advising firms will go to in order to keep their wealthiest clients (apparently hunting bears and arranging fishing trips). But look at this…
The Fight Over Berlin’s Charming Streetlights, The Atlantic (Oct. 11, 2013) This is a tricky one. Germany is such a leader in technology and especially renewable energy and energy efficiency, but this sentiment does resonate: “So why the passionate response from gas lamp supporters? Put simply, Berlin has already lost so much old stuff…
Researcher at Harvard Business School, Caitlin Rosenthal, has traced the origins of many modern business management techniques back to the practices invented by slaveholders as ways to optimize the production value of the enslaved individuals. In this Forbes piece the author explains: “Slave owners were able to collect data on their workforce in ways that…
The first government shutdown or “funding gap” occurs in 1976. Happy Bicentennial, President Ford! How many government shutdowns since 1976? Eighteen counting this one. Has anything changed? Julian Zelizer says we see two shifts: first, in 1980, when President Carter says that federal workers have to stay home during a shutdown, and second, in 1995/96,…
“If Obamacare is that bad, why did Mr. Nixon, 40 years ago, propose something vaguely similar…I wrote the message sending that bill up to congress.” – Ben Stein, former Nixon speechwriter
We Need History 