Earlier this month the popular British historian Simon Schama took to the pages of Newsweek to write a withering attack on the British TV series Downton Abbey — and even more, on Americans’ obsession with it — as its second series began to air on PBS. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T BEEN WATCHING I … More Downton Crabby
When I take students to Europe next January to study the history of World War I, we’ll close the journey (as my wife and I did this month) in Munich — primarily to consider how WWI led to the rise of fascist movements and thence to World War II and the Holocaust. But we’ll also … More Commemorating WWI: Munich
While the British commissioned architects like Reginald Blomfield and Edwin Lutyens to construct towering monuments whose significance would endure throughout eternity and their Dominions (e.g., Australia and Canada) used commemoration to help establish their claims to distinct nationhood, the Germans generally tacked in the opposite direction, preferring simple, dignified symbols of quiet mourning. Ironically, it was … More Commemorating WWI: German Subtlety
I’m taking a day or two off from my series on how the First World War has been commemorated in western Europe. But I’ll tread water a bit by encouraging those interested in the topic to read this essay by writer William Boyd, published in yesterday’s New York Times. He begins in a place similar … More “Why World War I Resonates”
A series of posts inspired by my recent trip to Europe, scouting a January 2013 travel course on the history of World War I. Today continues a series-within-the-series on how WWI was commemorated. Yesterday I showed the image of an Australian soldier’s gravestone, its epitaph asking “Have I died in vain?” Immediately above those words … More Commemorating World War I: Post-Christian Memory?
In a field outside the Belgian town of Ieper (or Ypres), one comes across a curious but moving sight: a wooden cross, with soccer balls piled at its base. The cross is carved to read: 1914 The Khaki Chums Christmas Truce 1999 85 Years Lest we forget It stands in what used to be No … More Commemorating World War I: “Lest We Forget”
A year from now my colleague Sam Mulberry and I will lead a group of twenty Bethel University students on a three-week journey that will take us from London to Paris to Munich, plus a few days on the ground of what was, from August 1914 to November 1918, the Western Front of World War … More In the Footsteps of WWI
So here it is, December 30th, the sixth day of Christmas. And I know what you’re thinking: “Where am I going to find six geese for my true love? *Do geese even lay eggs in late December?” (See end of post for answer.) And adding to the problem, yesterday’s five gold rings didn’t come cheap … More The Sixth Day of Christmas
In just over four months of blogging here, World War I has been the second most popular tag so far at The Pietist Schoolman, behind only — surprise! — Pietism. That’s mostly because I spent much of the summer reconceiving the January term (“J-term”) class I teach on WWI, converting it into a three-week trip … More Over There: An Update
During my Thanksgiving hiatus I’ll be reprising some older posts: one each from June/July, August, September, and October. The following comes from July 22, near the end of my series taking readers day-by-day through a proposed travel version of my course HIS230L World War I. You can see an overview/index of the whole series here. … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: A War of Words
The Pietist Schoolman 