Weekend Reading

This week: children's literature; Winston Churchill, fugitive; anti-Semitism and nuclear research; Howard Zinn; and more reactions to Lincoln. • Paris' cathedral of Notre Dame just kicked off a year-long 850th birthday celebration. • The discovery of a previously unknown story by Hans Christian Anderson — and what children read in earlier centuries. • Two excellent …

Weekend Reading

This week (actually, these past two weeks — we're catching up from taking last Saturday off): the real Santa Claus, the Alamo, WWI talk today, interactive maps, Churchill, more on Lincoln (vs. Lincoln), and things blowing up. • Santa Claus vs. St. Nicholas. • See the effects of the printing press by watching this visualization of …

Weekend Reading

This week: a tsunami in medieval Switzerland; the surprising background of the last Confederate general; the first book published on these shores; and faking war on film is pretty much as old as film. • New geological evidence supports a seemingly impossible observation recorded by the early medieval chronicler Gregory of Tours: that what we …

Weekend Reading

This week: Kanye West and the Reformation; scrapbooking and the Civil War; hockey and Roman ruins; St. Dorothy Day?; the most famous sinking in the history of Lake Superior; and a proposal to make history majors pay more for the privilege of such study. • The NHL is still locked out, but if you're looking …

Weekend Reading

This week: the "Nones" of the 18th century, remembering the Night of Shattered Glass, the forgotten story of some 20th century martyrs, Geronimo meets TR, Pancho Villa goes Hollywood, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and what denying women the vote had to do with cleaning advice. • Hints that the Roanoke Colony might not …

Weekend Reading

This week: Constantine, piggy banks, birth control, contacting the dead, neolithic dentistry, and two historical podcasts to check out. • It turns out that dentistry is as old as the Stone Age. • And piggy banks go back to 2nd century (BC) China and Turkey. • The 1700th anniversary of the Battle of Milvian Bridge …

Weekend Reading

This week: Abraham Lincoln's letter from "God"; a voice speaks from 1878; a long-lost transcript resurfaces; baseball in the Civil War; the surprisingly long history of gay marriage debates in Minnesota; the deaths of Russell Means and Jacques Barzun; and historical Halloween costumes. • The rise and fall (and recent commemoration) of the Revolutionary War …

Weekend Reading

This week: questions about Dr. Seuss,  ballooning, philosophy, the threat of nuclear holocaust, and two of the four heads on Mt. Rushmore. • Always wonder what you missed by not taking a History of Philosophy survey? Try the graphic novel version. • Did you know that Napoleon had a "chief air minister of ballooning"? Her …

Weekend Reading

This week: Vatican II and the country of Uganda turn 50; rapping about/against Puritans; the politics of plankton; celebrating Jane Austen; and fightin' words from our neighbors to the North. • The Christian rap song that laments the popularity of the Puritans. • Like a few other things, fire prevention in American history traces back …

Weekend Reading

This week: the Conference on Faith and History, remembering a key victory in the battle for civil rights, sin and history, the Chicago Fire, and the man who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz. • Be sure to read the unforgettable story of Witold Pilecki, the Polish resistance fighter who volunteered to be imprisoned in …