A short but fascinating discussion of WWI aerial photography and its use by historians.
Category Archives: Follow Up
Versailles Treaty Conditions Finally Fulfilled
The last reparations payment from Germany to the victor nations of WWI — yes, that’s World War One — has finally been made. It would be nice to say, as the article does, that WWI is “finally over” but really, the implications of that war are still with us, in many ways.
Travel, Transportation and Morbid Curiousity
A neat discussion by Randall Stevens at the Historical Society blog about the death of King George II, how fast the news travelled, and the autopsy that followed. I think I’ve been understating pre-industrial travel times…..
Also, a review of a biography of advertising pioneer Alfred Lasker, the inventor of Sun-Maid and Sunkist, popularizer of orange juice, and cigarettes for women.
North Korea in pictures
Here’s a Foreign Policy photoessay from 2009 (registration required) by a photographer whose speciality is still-Communist societies after the fall of the Soviet Union and most other Communist states. Here’s his latest, on an unabashedly Maoist town in China.
A meditation on the rise of the internet
The intellectual culture journal “n+1” has a thoughtful and long discussion of the cultural implications of the rise of the internet. [via] They argue that the internet is a transformative technology, altering the directionality and economics of information and culture. They cite the “post-60s” culture of participation, but don’t mention the cassette tape and photocopier. Can’t get everything right, I guess.
Edwin Black v. Wikipedia
Why isn’t wikipedia respected by academics? This sort of thing doesn’t help.
Final Exam Distribution: Columbus v. Natives ; Locke v. Hobbes
I haven’t graded the finals yet, obviously, but I did sort them out to see which questions were most popular (and make sure that I got a final from everyone). Wow.
| Compare and contrast the liberation of Latin America in the early 19th century and the decolonization of Africa in the late 20th century. | 5 |
| Describe the effects of the world slave trade on sub-Saharan Africa. (Don’t spend time talking about slavery in the Americas or elsewhere; focus on Africa). | 10 |
| Describe the world economy around 1700. Include trade, flows of silver and gold, the role of agriculture, major exporters and the state of technology. How are things changing? | 7 |
| Did the Columbian Exchange benefit Native American populations in any way, or was it entirely disastrous? | 38 |
| How did the Industrial Revolution affect Asia? How do Asian nations respond to the economic and military power of the West after industrialization? | 10 |
| Locke and Hobbes had very different ideas about the role of government and the rights of the individual. Describe their ideas, especially their differences. How have those ideas influenced political history over the last 300 years, and which of these thinkers is closest to our present-day ideas about rights and government? (globally, not just the United States) | 26 |
Cookie Experiment
The Z cookies were straight-up, old-fashioned Toll House cookies. The X cookies were exactly the same (as close as we could make them, anyway) but without the teaspoon of salt that the recipe calls for.
Thanks again for participating. Now I have to teach my son how to tabulate survey results and make pie charts. Or perhaps we should call them “cookie charts.”
End of Semester Survey
The extra credit survey on your quizzes gave me some interesting feedback. The clearest answer to the “what should we have spent less time on” question was “Asia,” with military/warfare history also getting a few more dings than the rest of the topics. The question of what I should have spent more time on is more complicated: Africa, Europe/US, Latin America, Middle East, politics/warfare and religion/philosophy all got large numbers of votes (about a quarter of the class), with family/social and literature/culture coming in the second tier. Definitely something to think about for next semester, though it would be easier if the number of “more” answers wasn’t so much greater than the number of “less” answers; I don’t know where I’m going to find the time! I’m not likely to pull back the Asia material much, but I do think I can do a better job of making it clear how it’s integrated with the rest of the textbook material, and there are definitely areas that I could do a bit more in. Thanks!
You got a half point for each question, and a point for the explanation: two points possible. I was not grading on whether I agree with you or not, obviously.
Ecology and Politics
Just in time to highlight my discussion of invasive species: The isolation of communist societies during the Cold War cut down on the introduction of non-native varieties in those areas. For another fascinating example, look up the DMZ in Korea.