In my two-part series asking which wars had inspired the best movies, I noted that the views of the fans who register their opinions with the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) sometimes diverge significantly from those of the film critics whose reviews are aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes (RT). The example I gave in Monday’s analysis of … More The Most Over- and Underrated War Movies
Yesterday I explained that, inspired by the realization that there simply aren’t many movies about the American Revolutionary War — let alone good movies, I spent some time over the weekend going through the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and the Rotten Tomatoes (RT) index of critics to see which modern wars have produced the best … More Which Modern War Has Yielded the Best Movies? (part 2)
Here… • I’m normally a big proponent of empathy as a historical virtue. But I can’t say that I grieved all that much to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Josef Stalin suffering the stroke that killed him. I did, however, enjoy teaching my students a song about said demise… • What is the poor Downton … More That Was The Week That Was
2/19/13 – If you’re part of the Bethel University community or live in the Twin Cities area… I have a pair of presentations coming up (both at the Bethel Library on Thursday mornings). First, my colleague Sam Mulberry and I will be joined by two of our students to share photos, videos, and reflections on … More Bethel Library Presentations
Good to be back home after three weeks in Europe teaching about World War I… I’ll be easing back into blogging this week, starting with a post tomorrow soliciting readers’ thoughts about the questions I’ll be asking Feb. 8-10 when I teach the Winter Seminar at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis. Then I’ll stretch out … More Back from Europe!
1/21/13 – Gruss Gott from Munich, where we’re into the last leg of our history of WWI travel course. Over on our department blog I just posted a new update covering our five days in Paris — including a photo of me leading a simulation of the Versailles Peace Conference… in the Hall of Mirrors … More How Ya Going to Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm…
1/14/13 – Greetings from Paris! I hadn’t intended to post a new update on our history of World War I trip until our off day, but having just finished the Western Front leg of our trip today, I just had too many highlights to save until Thursday. You can find my post (with some more … More All Still Quiet on the Western Front…
1/11/13 – If you’d like to read some highlights and see some pictures of our first week studying World War I (in London and Oxford), I posted a summary at our department blog this morning. On to the Western Front!
Later tonight twelve Bethel University students, my colleague Sam, and I will be flying off to London to start our three-week adventure studying the history of the First World War on location in England, Belgium, France, and Germany. I don’t expect to do a lot of blogging during the trip (maybe a few tweets — … More How to Follow Along with Our WWI Trip
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
The Pietist Schoolman 