Old farm trucks, typewriters, guns from several wars ago, clothes handed down across three generations, silverware and dishes, old houses – all of us have some pieces of history which blend into our lives in some way. Of course, we […]
Tonight I rewatched an old war movie classic with my Dad: 1976’s Midway, starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, and a who’s who of 60s and 70s stars, with a score (very much like the same year’s Star Wars) by John […]
I wonder whether scientists like Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer had any inkling in their youth that their work in physics would one day be used to produce nuclear weapons. Yet by cooperating with the government that produced these weapons, […]
If you want to lead a good life, a good rule of thumb is to live a life that is not merely the product of your age. Your life shouldn’t be reducible to the dominant forces and trends of your […]
“Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” According to some tellings, this is how Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther responded to demands that he recant positions which the established Church of his time considered […]
Is the 21st century a time of great moral progress? Or is it a time of decadence? Ask different people and you’ll get different answers. In my view, the answer is “both.” On one hand, humans are progressing. The internet […]
“Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. . . Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.” […]
Not having a holiday can make a month pretty bleak. Take January. With the exception of MLK Day (many workers don’t have the day off) and New Year’s Day (which might as well be a December holiday), we have nothing. […]
Think starting up your dream business is a daunting task? Imagine going straight from being on vacation to starting up a complex refugee rescue mission under the nose of the Nazis – with no prior experience and no preparation. That […]
You probably don’t know about the 9-hour German invasion of Denmark on April 9th, 1940. But like all historical events, this little “blip” on the radar of history involved real men and women. They were people, too, just like our own grandfathers and great-grandfathers […]
“For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” – Matthew 13:17 What if I told you […]
If you ever for a moment feel bored with your existence, you need to start reading more biographies and autobiographies. Humans have a breadth of potential beyond what you can appreciate day to day. Through the stories of others, you get […]
Today I went to a paintball course for what must have been the first time since my elementary or middle school days. I found myself just as fired up as I’m sure I was back then (if not more so), […]
Over 16 million humans died in the war that ended this day 100 year ago – on November 11, 1918. This is Armistice Day a hundred years later, and it should not go unremembered. Death like that deserves mourning, and peace […]
Tonight I was listening to some Baroque-period music on the radio, and it took me back – not to the 17th century, but instead to my early childhood. It’s so rare to hear classical music of this kind these days, […]
Was Abraham Lincoln really a moral leader who saved the United States and ended slavery? Did George Washington really save the Continental Army and win the American revolution? Was Thomas Jefferson really a forward-thinking liberalizer? Alluring Myth vs. Disappointing Fact The stories […]
“Anthropology is the study of humans and human behaviour and societies in the past and present.” – Wikipedia “Everything old is new again” and “there is nothing new under the sun.” It’s hard to think that these could be the unofficial slogans of innovations in human wellbeing, […]
We’ve all heard that “the medium is the message.” But when I look back through the collected artifacts of my grandfather’s life, I can see that medium has a lot to do with memories also. The stories of many of our […]
The Internet can be a place of many strange delights and many time-wasting distractions. But it’s hard to deny is that it has given people access to invaluable education. There’s plenty of written history to be had, but the web (particularly Youtube) has made […]
Time travel is really quite easy. All it takes is noticing. We’re each surrounded by portals connecting and blending our past and our present. On the streets of Charleston I walked tonight, gas street lamps and cobblestone streets live alongside Uber ridesharing. Of […]
I don’t always watch television, but when I do, I gravitate toward shows that dive into characters and events based upon real times and people in history. These are some of my favorite series: Victoria – Victoria is the story of a […]
I’m a big believer that good mythology and stories can teach us how to live well. In the past year or so, that has led me to thinkers like Joseph Campbell and Jordan Peterson, who both have left a big mark on […]
I was driving to work today when I realized how nonchalantly I was piloting my land-speeding hunk of aluminum. Cars are extraordinary, complex, and dangerous machines, but most of us can drive them comfortably and without much second thought. That’s extraordinary. Then I […]
Today your town is likely covered with people wearing green, playing questionably Celtic music, and eating corned beef and cabbage. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, if you haven’t guessed. This holiday has become a huge deal for Americans. But Irish culture hasn’t […]
I’m morbidly fascinated by the history of the two twentieth century wars. These giant catastrophes seem far too big to be possible, yet they’re far too close to my lifetime to be ignored. It’s now 2018, and one of the […]
So, you’re going through a failure? As bad as it is, I doubt it’s quite as bad as the failure of the British Expeditionary Force in May 1940. After the rapid German conquest of France, British troops were holed up at this […]
Morbid fascination is a strong motivator for me. Recently it’s brought me around to a renewed study of the first world war. For me, the study of this war (and other terrible things in human history) is about far more […]