How many time has a life been changed when something totally unexpected happens? I was reminded of this recently when I read about a member of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik political party, and what happened when he was told his grandparents on his mother’s side were Jewish. Plus his grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. The revelation
Sometimes greed is a greater enemy than an opposing army. In late April 1865, the American Civil War was over and no soldiers were more eager to return home than released prisoners of war. Thus Camp Fisk, on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, was a beehive of activity. Camp Fisk had been established for the
The Nazis have just invaded your country and your life is in danger because you have two Nobel prizes you are safeguarding for friends — one is Jewish and the other is an opponent of National Socialism. What do you do? That was the dilemma faced by Niels Bohr in 1940 when Germany occupied Copenhagen,
The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800. It was originally founded to provide a legislative library for members of Congress. In just over a decade, the collection had grown to over 3000 books. There was a major setback during the War of 1812 when the invading British burned the Capitol building and the
Whenever I substitute teach for history (like the past two weeks), I always like to find something that makes the events more meaningful. My “Global” classes were studying the Cold War and all its ramifications, and that jogged a memory of a passage in a guide book I’d gotten a long time ago. Entitled Los
Periodically we run across a historical description that sounds unbelievable — “Could this really have happened?” Then we investigate and discover that not only did it happen, it was actually worse than we could ever have imagined. Some of the stories from the civil rights struggle in this country and the Holocaust are two ready
For the next two weeks I’m filling in for a high school social studies teacher. I originally wanted to teach social studies, so I’m having a lot of fun during this time, although I have to keep reminding myself they’re typical high school students and not a history nerd like me. Remember Winston Churchill’s quote,
Something to think about on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War — As politically divided as the United States is today, it was worse in the mid-19th century, as the North-South conflict over slavery came to a head. Of course, that issue was only resolved through a long and bloody Civil War. Even today,
I was trying to think of something clever to write about today when something fell into my lap. USA Today’s website has a post on “five history lessons on products you use every day” — — The Surprising History of Toilet Paper (Have you ever wondered how the Greeks and Romans got by without paper?)
Teaching today has put me in the mood to post something historical — Railroads and the Civil War Some consider the American Civil War to be the first modern conflict. For example, it saw the first battle between ironclad warships, the first successful use of the submarine, warfare directed toward the civilian population (Sherman’s March