In less than a month now, fourteen of us from Bethel University will leave for London to start a three-week travel course on the history of World War I. After eight days in England, we’ll cross the Channel to tour battlefield and memorial sites in Belgium and northern France, then wrap up with five days … More Text in Context: Readings for Our World War I Travel Course
Looking for ideas for the history buff and/or book lover on your Santa list? To my earlier collection of history books making the cut for some early “Best of 2012” lists, let’s add the following, selected by the editors of the New York Times Book Review for their 10 Best and 100 Notable lists: Pat … More Some More “Best of 2012” History Books
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?
You and I believe that slavery is wrong, but neither of us came to this conclusion on our own. So starts perhaps my favorite blog post of the year, published last weekend by historian Jay Case (professor at Malone University; author of An Unpredictable Gospel) and entitled, “An Ethical Conviction That You Hold, For Which … More Abolition as Grace
It’s late November, which means that newspapers and periodicals are starting to put out their “Best of 2012” lists. Here are the works of scholarly and popular history (and some historical fiction) that have shown up on “Best Books” lists produced by Publishers Weekly (PW), The Washington Post (WP), and Britain’s The Guardian. For each, … More The Best History (and Religion) Books of 2012?
For Thanksgiving I’ll simply repost a brief piece I wrote for our department blog earlier this week. Probably most useful for those of you who like to put off your shopping (and menu planning) until the day of the event, though there’s also some fun trivia in there even if you’ve got everything set to … More Have a Historic Thanksgiving!
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
“Is this the end” of the losing party, asked a journalist in the aftermath of a decisive election day, “and perhaps even the end of the two-party system in the United States? “Be of good cheer, ye of little faith,” he advised the losing side. “Things don’t work that way in this remarkable country, with … More “The end of the two-party system in the United States?”
This weekend my mom’s side of the family is gathering in Ellsworth, Wisconsin (“Cheese Curd Capital of the World”!) to celebrate my Grandpa Peterson’s 90th birthday. In honor of the occasion, let me reprise the first of my three-part series exploring some family history (and themes of immigration, urbanization, education, social mobility, and assimilation) via … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: The Petersons of Pierce County
The Pietist Schoolman 