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)
Here • I presented a three-part series exploring whether social class (as much as gender and race) is a source of inequality at Christian colleges like my employer. (part 1: some preliminary observations; part 2: mining data on higher education and social mobility; part 3: some stray thoughts on evangelical and Jesuit colleges and universities) … More That Was The Week That Was
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?
Seven score and nine years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln ascended the dais at the dedication of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the sleepy town that had hosted the bloodiest battle in American history just over four months before. Word for word, I can’t imagine a discourse more powerful than the two-minute speech Lincoln … More This Day in History: The Gettysburg Address
150 years ago today, the courts-martial of over 300 Dakota warriors came to an end with convictions for murder and rape. While Pres. Abraham Lincoln commuted most of the sentences, the day after Christmas 1862, thirty-eight were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota. In commemoration, here’s a post on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 that I originally … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: “All have sinned”
Here • One last burst of rating college ratings focused on the use of “comparison groups” by colleges and universities. • In their own return to publishing, Douglas and Rhonda Jacobsen examined another return: that of religion to higher education. • It wasn’t a long post, but struggling to pick just nine favorite Bob Dylan … More That Was The Week That Was
Last Friday I decided to put syllabus revision on hold and spend an afternoon continuing my tour of World War I commemoration in the Twin Cities by visiting Fort Snelling, the nearly 200-year old former military installation at the convergence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers that trained officers, processed recruits and draftees, and housed … More “All have sinned”: The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862
December 2, 1859 – John Brown is hanged I tend to sympathize with the many those historians who dislike slavery and John Brown, in that order. [I’m going to backtrack a bit here — I’m quickly realizing that I’m just an amateur when it comes to this aspect of US history; I ought not to … More This Day in History: John Brown’s Body
A series of posts taking you day-by-day through a proposed travel version of my course HIS230L World War I. Read the introduction to the series here, or the previous post here. Friday, January 25, 2013 – to Minneapolis-St. Paul This is it: the last day of term; the day we fly home from Munich. I’ve … More Loving War, Seeking Peace
The Pietist Schoolman 