Unquiet History

Unquiet History 11

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:35:00 +0000

Influenced by popular historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Barack Obama may be populating his cabinet with a "team of rivals" in hopes of creating the same tension and energy that helped Abraham Lincoln win the War Between the States. But hold on! According to Civil War historian Matthew Pinsker, the mixture of enemies and rivals nearly proved disastrous for Lincoln, with scandal, backstabbing, and petty infighting drowning out healthy debate.

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Unquiet History 10

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:20:00 +0000

A new series of podcasts from Britain's National Archives breathes life into history's raw materials. In commemoration of the ninetieth anniversary of the end of the first world war, the National Archives launched "Voices of the Armistice," a series of recordings made from diaries, correspondence, and official records relating to the First World War. Read by actors and spiced with the sounds of battle, they evoke the urgency, drudgery, and terror experienced by Britons, from private to Field Marshal, who fought on the Western Front.

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Unquiet History 9

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Socrates's last words, recorded by Plato in the Apology, have long posed a puzzle for young students and great philosophers alike. Writer Colin Wells thinks he can explain the enigma--and the answer's not found in abstruse philosophy, but in the simple rituals of ancient Greek religion.

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Unquiet History 8

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:25:00 +0000

Along a bustling harbor street in Maryland in the early 1700s, someone hung a West African spirit bundle, perhaps invoking Elegu Eshba, Yoruba trickster and god of crossroads. Like the spirit bundle itself, its maker stood at a crossroads between the straits of the middle passage and the scourge of the slave years to come.

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Unquiet History 7

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:10:00 +0000

The ruins of ancient Greek temples are evocative. But what drew worshippers to these sites in the first place? Were they simply convenient locales? Or was their meaning more organic? New research shows that the types of soil present at ancient sacred sites conforms to the work with which the resident deity was identified.

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Unquiet History 6

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:43:00 +0000

What compelled the Norse to plunder the monasteries, towns, and settlements of Europe? According to Cambridge University archaeologist James Barrett, the cause might have been female infanticide.

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Unquiet History 5

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:49:00 +0000

Medieval city dwellers threw their trash out the windows onto unsuspecting pedestrians below--right? Not according to historian Dolly Jorgenson. Writing in the current issue of Technology & Society, Jorgenson describes how medieval urbanites paved the way for modernity by working together to dispose of their waste and keep their cities clean.

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Unquiet History 4

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:07:00 +0000

1855: Kansas Free State; 1917: Lenin calls for revolution; 1929: panic on Wall Street; 4004 BC: according to bishop Ussher, the first day of the world.

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Unquiet History 2

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:45:00 +0000

1520: Ferdinand Magellan discovers his strait; 1805; Admiral Nelson wins the Battle of Trafalgar and loses his life; 1867: the Medicine Lodge Treaty is signed between the US government and southern Plains tribes in Kansas.

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Unquiet History 3

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:08:00 +0000

202 BC: Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal; 741 AD: death of Charles Martel; 1887: radical journalist John Reed born in Portland, Oregon.

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Unquiet History 1

matthew.battles@unquiethistory.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:19:00 +0000

1803: US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase; 1947: House Un-American Activities Committee opens its investigation into Hollywood; 1632: Christopher Wren born in Wiltshire, England.

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