Blake’s “Chimney Sweeper”: A Labor Day Remembrance

Labor Day blog? Yes, I’m realizing my social media feeds appear empty, too few extolling the virtues of the history of the working class. What would E. P. Thompson say? What can I say, except to point to a William Blake poem. Written in 1789, “The Chimney Sweeper” appeared in a small poem book called Songs of Innocence. These are early Blake poems, typified by observation, allowing the simplicity of words and rhymes to act as a sort of

 

Two Democratic Revolutions in the Humanities: The longue durée purview

Professor Joyce Appleby stood at the podium one April day in 2002, at San Diego State, University. She had driven down the I-5 from Los Angeles (she teaches at UCLA) to take part in bestowing the Andrew Appleby Memorial Award (I, being the recipient).

With a small crowd gathered, this award-winning historian began with a story about

 

Switching the Focus on College-based Group Projects

I think it’s fairly safe to say that nearly every college instructor wants their students to learn. In fact, I know more than a few of my colleagues who design their courses around this very idea. Toward that end, group work appears enticing, a peer-to-peer tool gleaming in our “teacher toolbox” with the promise of lessons learned. Right?

 

Still Loving the Wiki – To the Open Source Papers!

It’s true, for years I have extolled the virtues of Wikipedia before my students. As a research tool, “wiki” offers numerous pointing mechanisms that sometimes, at the click of a button, will take a researcher to a

 

HNN Publishes: Should We Really Have Been Shocked by the Brexit Vote?

History News Network published my observation on Brexit and what it means to the EU. you can find it here using this link:

Should We Really Have Been Shocked by the Brexit Vote? The fact is, Europe’s changed since the 2008 Financial Crisis.

 

 

Bell of Arabia? Queen of the Desert? New Archive Discovered

My love of teaching armed with little more than primary materials continues to grow. In searching for documents explaining the demise of the Ottoman Empire, fin de siècle, I stumbled upon the Gertrude Bell Archive, hosted by Newcastle University, United Kingdom.

It’s not pretty, as far as website appearances go. But

 

“Society & the Civil War” – Episode 2, Francis McFarland: Religious Convictions and the Confederacy

Hi there, welcome to Joe Historian. I’m Joe, and I’m a historian…

Welcome to episode 2 of “Society and the Civil War” – podcasts created by my freshmen students enrolled, learning, crafting, and thinking about Early America.

This week’s episode focuses on something most people don’t think about when they hear the phrase “America’s Civil War” and that would be