French history buffs are planning their own theme park to compete with Disneyland, and honour France’s best known soldier. Napoleonland will bring history to life, in ways that could even make fans of “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Killer” blush with embarrassment.
Et alors, can pure amusement be educational? It worked for King Arthur’s Labyrinth in Wales, and that’s History. Or, it’s a story.
Republican convention, 1952. Fifty year rule: 2002. Sixty year rule: 2012
39-year-old History teacher Josh Hoeska had a great idea. His sixteen-year-old students were to hold a tournament to find out who was the greatest examples of courage in American “history.” The two finalists involved events that happened in 2001 and 2005.
In other words, their “history” was the Presidency of George Bush Jr. Most people over thirty might think that these kids were learning current events, and not history.
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky. But that was over 200 years ago. Accents change over time, so there’s no attempt in the video to emulate a Kentucky accent.
Lincoln’s best known speech was the Gettysburg Address.
Four score and seven years ago, our four fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Continue reading “Abraham Lincoln Impression”
On CNN, Timothy Stanely compared Bush Junior to Harry Truman. Both Presidents left office with low approval ratings, both supposedly fought what seemed like unpopular wars (Truman in Korea, Bush in Iraq), yet both had “a gentle, honest personality that voters looked back on with fondness.”
The Times asked historical novelist Philippa Gregory why British school children stop studying history the moment they have that choice.
Like one third of all British 13-year-olds, Ms. Gregory chose to stop studying history at GCSE level. It was as if her teachers ‘sat down and said “What’s the most boring thing you can possibly study to put people off studying history forever.”‘ Continue reading “History ‘is boring’, says bestselling historical novelist”
A Soldier’s Wife at Fort Niagra (during the War of 1812) by T. Walker
Some people will point to “progress” and show how technology (or legislation) has made certain jobs obsolete.
Me, I prefer to have a positive outlook, and see how the number of insults people throw at each other has diminished since the Reagan/Thatcher/Gorbechev era. So, here’s a list of five insults that were prevalent during the 1980’s, but no longer seem to mean anything.
I often wonder why the so-called tea party keeps talking about “the past 100 years.” Do they see Woodrow Wilson’s election as the beginning of the downfall of America? Or are they still talking about William Howard Taft’s election, four years earlier?
Whatever the case, 1912 was one of America’s most crucial elections. Had an ex-President not given a third party a fighting chance, history could have taken a very different turn. Continue reading “What if Taft had won in 1912?”
If you read British history magazines, you’ve probably read Andrew Lambert. He’s an academic who writes in a style that flows so well, you don’t notice the footnotes.
This is in contrast to the man who Lambert claims is the founder of modern naval history, William James. James, according to Lambert, didn’t just write stories, he examined sources. James’ writing is exhausting because its filled with numbers and data (what James’ detractors might call “lies, more lies and statistics.”)
NRP Sagres III, Portuguese naval training ship, photo by Jose Manuel
It has been more than 500 years since the first Portuguese ship carrying envoy Duarte Fernandes sailed into Trangque, but the celebrations of the long lasting relationship between Portugal and Thailand continue.
The celebrations began a year ahead of time, in 2010 when a Portuguese training ship called the Sagres sailed into port to commemorate the long relationship.
(The Sagres was on a trip around the world at the time, but rather than taking Vasco da Gama’s famous route around the cape of Good Hope, it cut through the Suez Canal. The ships first such trip in over a decade, it selectively stopped at several countries with strong historical ties to Portugal.)
After sailing to Siam, the Portuguese exchanged some food ideas with the Thais. Apparently, the Portuguese introduced dessert into Thai culture, before the two countries met people used to just drink a glass of water after meals.
Well, today Portuguese people are being influenced by Thai culture, and learning a thing or two. Here’s a picture of Andrew, a Portuguese in Thailand who is learning to dance as the celebrations continue. (He’s at the Vira do Minho in the Siam Museum.)
Andrew learns to dance from a traditional dancer, in front of images of an old ship coming into port
Well, I’ve been getting a lot of pictures about these celebrations, but not much information.
For at least 200 years, Americans have had a national day of prayer. Ironically, this “day of prayer” tradition seems to have been started by a man who is known as a bulwark of the separation of church and state.
Once again, President James Madison seems to be a man of contradiction.
On CNN, Timothy Stanely 
