Those Who Cannot Remember the Past are Condemned to Repeat It
by cecile
Journalism is said to be the first draft of history. A 24 hour news cycle makes it a very rough draft.
The History News Network exists to help put events in context and exposes those that misrepresent history intentionally or because of ignorance.
Read what historians are saying about current events—scholars with a depth of knowledge who look to the past to interpret the present.
Gain a better understanding of current events and at the same time save yourself from condemnation with HNN!!
Crusader for human rights
by Maxine
Tomorrow, October 29, Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the featured speaker at the Wallenberg Foundation lecture. Archbishop Tutu, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, has been a tireless supporter of human rights in South Africa. He helped establish the the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa which investigated abuses of human rights. Tutu emphasized the importance of justice as well as forgiveness in this process. His work reflects that of Raoul Wallenberg who risked his life to save thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II. Every year, the Foundation honors a person who embodies Wallenberg's quest for peace and justice. Desmond Tutu's lecture will be at 7:30 in Hill Auditorium.
More October Films
by muffy
"The true-life tragedy of Evelyn Nesbit (1884-1967) supplies the framework for French director Claude Chabrol's latest romantic thriller" -A Girl Cut in Two, writes John Anderson of The Washington Post.
The story of Evelyn Nesbit is one of glamour, money, romance, madness, and murder. Famous by her sixteenth birthday in 1900, Gibson Girl Evelyn Nesbit was the most photographed woman of her era, an iconic figure who set the standard for female beauty. Women wanted to be her. Men wanted her. When her jealous millionaire husband, Harry K. Thaw, killed her lover--celebrity architect Stanford White, she found herself at the center of the "crime of the century" and the scandal that marked the beginning of a national obsession with youth, beauty, celebrity, and sex.
Author Paula Uruburu's American Eve : Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the "It" Girl, and the Crime of the Century (2008) is highly recommended for further reading on this sensational episode in our cultural history. Filmgoers might also want to check out the The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, a 2007 reissue of the 1955 film that dramatized the Nesbit/Thaw/White triangle.
New Additions to Ann Arbor Historical Signs Collection
by andrewjmac
The Ann Arbor Historical Signs Collection in pictureAnnArbor just got bigger. We've recently added over 100 new photos, bringing our portrait of 1970's Ann Arbor up to 570 images. These new additions include many businesses from Main, Maple, and East Liberty. We've also reorganized the collection to help you browse through all of the photos more easily. If you happen to want to look at a specific street or find a specific business, just enter those words into our Image Gallery Search at the bottom of any image gallery page and see what pops up.
Ann Arbor Historical Signs is a collection of photographs taken by the Ann Arbor Sign Inspector. Mostly taken in the 1970's, the collection gives a rich picture of the businesses and goings-on in Ann Arbor 35 years ago.
October 14, 1964 - Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by darla
Have you ever wondered about the Nobel Prizes? We all know them as a mark of prestige, but where did those world-famous awards come from and who decides the winners? Check out The Nobel Prize and wonder no more. Burton Feldman relates the lively history of the awards, touring their century-long existence forward from the will of dynamite mogul Alfred Nobel. Readers will learn about the quirky preferences of the award committees, winners who really didn't deserve to win, losers that should have been winners, and amusing bits of Nobel trivia (like the awarding of the prize in medicine to the inventor of the lobotomy). For details on Martin Luther King, Jr. and his award, the AADL has a GIANT collection of MLK materials for you to peruse. Enjoy!
Campaign Commercials
by andrewjmac
Tired of all the presidential campaigning that's been going on for so incredibly long? Take a break from all the political ads with some...um, political ads. The Museum of the Moving Image has created an online exhibit that charts the history of presidential ads on television, beginning with Dwight Eisenhower's first commercials 56 years ago. The Living Room Candidate contains over 300 commercials from the last 15 presidential elections, with analysis of the themes that pop up over and over, election after election. Let yourself be charmed by 1952's singing cartoons or reminded that attack ads and calls for change as strategies to win elections are not recent inventions.
Noteworthy October Biopics @ a Theater Near You
by muffy
Based on the biography of Georgiana (Spencer), Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman, The Duchess is the story of an extraordinary woman who rose to fame by staying true to her passion in a world of protocol, gossip, and social rules - and paid the price. (The New York Times review)
Flash of Genius is adapted from a 1993 New Yorker article by John Seabrook, about a lone crusader doing battle with the big bad establishments - in this case, Ford and Chrysler.
In 1967, Dr. Robert W. Kearns, an electrical engineer and college professor invented and patented the intermittent windshield wiper, only to watch Ford steal the idea two year later for its redesigned Mustang. Read an early review from the Traverse City Film Festival's sneak preview of this Oscar-worthy film, starring Greg Kinnear.
Bronze Bow shines with characters, rich language
by annevm
The Bronze Bow, which won a 1962 Newbery Medal, is a highly literate, entertaining historical novel for upper elementary and middle-school-age readers (also for me, a parent read-along). Set in Israel at the time of Jesus, the narrative is laced with religion, intrigue, romance, politics, coming-of-age issues. Next on my list by Elizabeth George Speare is The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
Two Great Books About the Aftermath of World War II
by cecile
History and Foreign Affairs Fans will enjoy these two books about the aftermath of World War II in Japan and Europe. Rebuilding a country and a continent wasn’t easy but smart, committed people with a plan managed to do a pretty good job of it.
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, by John Dower, a Pulitzer Prize winning look at Japan during the occupation years, begins with the astonishment of the Japanese people upon hearing their emperor’s voice for the first time as he announced “the war did not turn in Japan’s favor, and trends of the world were not advantageous to us.” It details the development of the enormous black market nationwide, MacArthur as Viceroy, Kasutori culture, economic redevelopment, the Tokyo Tribunal and the promotion of democracy in Japan. Promoting democracy in Japan included giving women the vote and, interestingly, strong American pressure to form trade unions.
The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe by Greg Behrman recounts the four year plan to rebuild Europe by following the ideas and actions of incredible statesmen and the congressional bi-partisanship that made it work.
Today you don’t hear much about George Catlett Marshall, Time’s Man of the Year in 1943, even though he was the architect of the most successful project the United States launched in the last century or perhaps ever. He managed to help Europe rebuild itself with $14 billion dollars, no cost overruns, on-time and with little or no corruption.
Both books give a good comprehensive view exposing both successes and failures in these mammoth undertakings.
Katrina remembered
by Maxine
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. It is classified as one of the most devastating storms in American history, destroying communities in Louisiana and causing the break in the levies in New Orleans. Within two days, 80% of the city was underwater, trapping thousands of people. The death toll was more than 1,300 people.
In the aftermath of such tragedy, Katrina also brought people together like the teachers and children of Sugarcane Academy, an improvised one-room school in a sugar-cane parish in south Louisiana. Michael Tisserand, the author of Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and His Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember has written about a remarkable group of people who came together to rebuild their school and heal themselves. Mel Levine, author of A Mind at a Time says: "Every so often a remarkable tale of human resiliency comes our way. It is especially moving when that saga enables vulnerable children to overcome adversity. Sugarcane Academy is a story that needed to be told. The contents of its pages open our eyes to how a disaster in New Orleans can bring forth creativity and empathy that we all need to emulate." (Amazon.com).