Tag: History

Home History
Photo of the original "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at Auschwitz I, the main camp. 18-April-00
Post

You Get Out

“It’s all almost too stereotypical,” Shore reflects. “A 1930s-style military parade as a performative assertion of the Führerprinzip,” she says, referring to the doctrine established by Adolf Hitler, locating all power in the dictator. “As for Los Angeles, my historian’s intuition is that sending in the national guard is a provocation that will be used to foment violence and justify martial law. The Russian word of the day here could be provokatsiia.”

This. Is. Us. Part Two
Post

This. Is. Us. Part Two

We have ALWAYS been this. One example among countless: The Sand Creek Massacre: “An estimated 70 to 600 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho – about two-thirds of whom were women, children, and infants – were murdered and mutilated by Col. [John] Chivington [a Methodist minister] and the volunteer troops under his command. Chivington and his men...

What They Fought For is Not What’s Coming to us
Post

What They Fought For is Not What’s Coming to us

If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.

Photo of HIroshima destruction in 1945
Post

Of Manifestoes and Buildings and Truman and Stuff

[Edited two days later to fix some typos and unclear, stream-of-consciousness-type unclear phrases.] During the recent effort to rename the Russell Senate Office Building, it would have been nice to remember that both Richard Russell, the building’s current namesake, and John McCain, the proposed replacement namesake, (while useful tools to poke the likes of President...

Remembering the Past
Post

Remembering the Past

Remembering Bill Schock on his 100th birthday … and the 52nd anniversary of Braniff 250 in Falls City. Also … feeling old from … time flying and stuff. Since the AM2431 crash in Durango a few days ago appears to be from weather-related causes, never forgetting the lessons of BN250, as well as CO426, OZ809,...

Photo by João Silas on Unsplash
Post

History as Prophecy

I have been attempting to read «Michael Burleigh's The Third Reich: A New History» since it came out in 2000. Instead, I've read «William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich» twice. Nothing wrong with anything I've read of Burleigh's work; quite the contrary. In fact, it has to do with how big the book is; the first edition is 950-plus pages and weighs a ton and I've had hand/wrist problems since, well, 2000. And I have Rise and Fall on Kindle.

Post

How Many Slaves Work For You?

How Many Slaves Work For You? My number was 43 … If anything, it shows that not much has changed in 150 years. Troubling that 150 years represents just … a slow beginning. Background: The history/journalist geek in me notes that today is the Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation – it’s Jubilee Day. Five days...