Quick: name a really good movie about the American Revolution. Not so easy, is it? In the recent “Real to Reel” episode of the podcast BackStory (H/T John Fea), historian Mark Peterson pointed out how little attention this significant episode in American history has drawn from filmmakers and how lousy most of the rare attempts … More Which Modern War Has Yielded the Best Movies? (part 1)
If you’re like me, you emerged from the Christmas special that served as the final episode of the third series of Downton Abbey with two questions: 1. What kind of a tacked-on, half-baked ending was THAT?!?! I’ll never watch again! (aloud) 2. When does the next series start? (unspoken) Answers: 1. It’s Christmas show tradition, says … More Life after Downton: A Survival Guide
At some point in the history of this blog, I think I’ve had at least one post about every course that I teach — with one exception: I’ve said little about my upper-division course on the history of the Cold War, for the simple reason that I haven’t taught it since May 2011, and this … More Teaching the Cold War
My Saturday links post will take a break, since on Monday I’ll be giving a “best of 2012” version of it. Instead, let me know what you think about a couple of film-related questions on my mind the last few days… My wife and I finally had a chance to watch Lincoln earlier in the … More Biopics: The Best, and the Can’t Misses No One’s Made
A while back I noted on our department blog that Steven Spielberg’s new film, Lincoln, was receiving extraordinarily positive responses from film critics who had seen advance previews of the movie. (And asked if any of our students or alumni would be interested in writing their own reviews — that invitation still stands, if any … More Spielberg the Historian?
With some deadlines looming between now and September 10, I’m going to take a day off here and there and rerun some of my favorite posts. First, one from about this time last year… Last month I felt like I was living a John Denver song: country roads taking me to a colleague’s farm near … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: “God Made the Country”
In 1952 an African-American man named Eugene Allen joined the White House staff as a “pantry man,” washing dishes, stocking cabinets, and shining silverware for $2400 a year. Thirty-four years later, he retired as the Head Butler of the most famous residence in the United States, having served under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, (LB) Johnson, … More Casting a Movie with Thirty Years of Presidential History
This fall a joint venture from Harvard and MIT, called edX, will make available free online courses from two of the world’s elite research universities. As the New York Times reported, the Harvard-MIT collaboration follows in the wake of a similar partnership involving Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan (“Coursera“). … More Education as “Infotainment”: or, The One Where I Become Part of the Problem
It’s tricky, but here’s how to tell the difference between me and Aaron Sorkin, creator of the new HBO series The Newsroom. We both possess honors that have eluded the other: I don’t have an Emmy or an Oscar, but he doesn’t have a teaching award from Bethel University or a “Best Daddy Ever” card … More Aaron Sorkin (and I) Love the 1940s
This is a couple weeks old now, but in case, like me, you don’t happen read the L.A. Review of Books religiously but, like me, do happen to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes — and especially if, like me, your favorite pre-J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies are The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered … More Nicholas Meyer on Sherlock Holmes
The Pietist Schoolman 