In my historical research on the Islamist Entanglement, I have been examining the intellectual undercurrent that runs through Middle Eastern history during the Western Ascendancy of 1683-1839 and subsequent Western Supremacy over the region. It has been a fascinating project, with far greater rewards that I had suspected. Among the most interesting characters I [...]
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The United States is currently engaged in an effort to elevate Afghanistan to the status of exemplary moderate Islamic state. What exactly are the prospects for accomplishing this mission based on Afghanistan’s history and culture?
The first thing to realize when broaching this question is that Afghanistan is not a nation, and barely a [...]
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The HistoryAtOurHouse blog, home to news about the world’s premier homeschooling history curriculum for children, features the following recent articles:
A Classic Tribute to the American Sense of Life — Ruggles of Red Gap: a “must see” movie from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
In Defense of Heroification: Leutze’s “Crossing the Delaware” — Modern critic James Loewen claims history [...]
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What if your personal library could contain the best history books ever written?
Thomas Jefferson’s library at Monticello once numbered perhaps as many as 10,000 volumes. It was the largest personal collection of books in the United States of the Founding Era.
When the British burned the Capitol in 1814, Jefferson offered to sell his library to [...]
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Although I am usually loath to recommend any history book written after 1920, when the subject matter itself postdates WWI, you simply have no choice. And, truth be told, I have read more than a handful of quite excellent histories from modern writers, despite the dreadful state of the profession, so I’m willing to [...]
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Cut through the clutter in the news concerning developments in the Middle East. Find out what really matters. Tune in to Powell History Recommends Middle East Watch. Each week, I’ll be monitoring the news for historically significant events in the region’s major countries, and passing them on to you, with brief commentary about why these [...]
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Imagine a conversation that goes something like this:
Person A: “Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett — at the Alamo, after twelve days.”
Person B: “Washington crossed the Delaware; the Hessians, the long sleep.”
Person A: “Napoleon…Waterloo.”
Person B: “Napoleon — at Lodi, the Little Corporal!”
In case you need to brush up on your history, the conversation went as follows:
Person [...]
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In my recent “roundup” of bloggers tackling history, I missed one who shouldn’t be missed. He’s one of my keenest and ablest students, ”SB”, over at One Reality.
His recent post Digging for Artifacts relates to Egypt’s backward looking culture and a theme I discussed in my fourth lecture of the Islamist Entanglement: Egypt’s “sense of nationhood.”
Ayn Rand [...]
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As a teacher, I can say with confidence that the best way to make sure you understand something is to write about it. The process of collecting, ordering, and transmitting your thoughts in written form requires a greater rigor that speaking. There’s a dimension of finality to what you write that forces you [...]
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There so much clutter in the news concerning developments in the Middle East. How do you find out what really matters? Tune in to Powell History Recommends! Each week, I’ll be monitoring the news for historically significant events in the region’s major countries, and passing them on to you, with brief commentary [...]
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