In December 2015, I wrote about some examples of one of my favorite subjects — alternate history. I thought of this again while following our contentious election campaign. We may take our democracy for granted, but it was actually hard-won, and could easily have been lost many times. In the book What If?, historian Thomas
How much of history can you trust? As a history nerd, I’ve thought about this often (at least 2384 previous times). I usually end up pondering some of my favorite quotes — “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it” — Sir Winston Churchill “History is the version of past events
I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July. After the parades, cookouts and fireworks, I came across some interesting details about the holiday, courtesy of the daily email from The Writer’s Almanac — [July 4th] marks the day in 1776 when the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. The document was
A major problem with studying history is you have to dig to get the real story. So much gets left out of the standard history books. One of my favorite examples is Rosalind Franklin, whose pioneering work in X-ray crystallography enabled James Watson, Francis Crick, and their colleague Maurice Wilkins to discover the structure of
Yesterday my hometown of Pleasant Hill, Ohio celebrated its sesquicentennial. (Actually I grew up on a farm five miles from the nearest town, but this is where I went to school, so close enough.) Looking at old pictures on display, some from over a century ago, brought back a lot of memories… and some surprises.
Somehow in this political year it seems fitting to write about Machiavelli, famously the author of The Prince. He was born in Florence, Italy, on May 3, 1469, into one of the prominent merchant families of this city-state. However, the family was not wealthy, and financial worries would dog Niccolo throughout his life. He became
I was in the classroom earlier this week as an aide in some middle school social studies classes, and they were studying the Underground Railroad. All this week they were watching a movie entitled Race to Freedom about slaves trying to make it to Canada. We hear so much about the Underground Railroad, and movies
As a history nerd, I jumped at the chance to visit Hiroshima during my recent trip to Japan. Today, Hiroshima is a modern, vibrant city. But the past is being brought to vivid reality by the Peace Memorial Park, which is on an island between the Honkawa and Motoyasu-gawa Rivers, and the Atomic Bomb Dome
Were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly an airplane? They’re given credit, and they certainly advanced aviation, forming their own company and continuing their research. But there are other claimants. (A good article summarizing those claims is at http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/who-flew-first-290750/?no-ist. And I still consider the Wright Brothers to be first.) James Watt is associated with
If you are looking for a hero, especially if you’re a girl, you might consider Mary Edwards Walker. Born on November 26, 1832, in Oswego, New York, she was a nurse, doctor, woman’s rights activist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, and prisoner of war during the American Civil War. She became the first, and as