In his book The Ruin of Kasch, Roberto Calasso argues that humanity lost an important outlet when we banned the ritual of sacrifice, because the craving to sacrifice now permeates life rather than being bounded and limited by the tradition of a ritual. The Aztecs killed a few to (as they saw it) appease their [...]
Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Life after the end of sacrifice
Posted in History, Quotation on March 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Shadow of the Golden Age
Posted in California, History, Politics on February 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The years 1945 to 1965 were the Golden Age of the Golden State. The economy was booming and jobs were plentiful. A torrent of tax revenue (and the bond issues it supported) led to widespread expansion of the parks system, the university system, K-12 schools, and public works. In 1962, California passed New York to [...]
How libraries reinvented knowledge
Posted in Academic, History, LIS, Quotation on December 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Ian F. McNeely and Lisa Wolverton note how the development by the Greeks of libraries, as storehouses of the written word, changed the possibilities of knowledge from what they had been in a purely oral society:
Every library comfortably contains writings and juxtaposes ideas that, if they were represented by their proponents in the flesh, might [...]
The suffering of Italy
Posted in History on December 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Rome is known as the Eternal City. James J. O’Donnell notes that Italy could be called the Eternal Victim:
After [the period of 476-535], Italy as a whole would know no comparable unity, prosperity, and freedom from warfare until the 1950s.
– The Ruin of the Roman Empire (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), page 106.
One other effect from the ‘08 election…
Posted in History, Politics on November 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
During the new Obama administration and 111th Congress, the old South will be shut out of power, for only the third time since 1930. The other two times were brief (1953-54 and 1965-66).
If Obama does well, then the coming dry spell for the old South could match the post-Reconstruction record of 14 years (1897-1910).
Armistice Day
Posted in History on November 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The 11th minute. Of the 11th hour. Of the 11th day. Of the 11th month.
Ninety years ago today, Europe ended its first attempt at collective suicide. At war’s end, France had suffered 1.7 million dead and 4.3 million wounded from a population of 39 million; it had been “bled white”. Ninety years later, as the [...]
Obama’s biggest accomplishment
Posted in History, Politics on November 8, 2008 | 1 Comment »
It just hit me what Barack Obama’s biggest accomplishment was this week.
Let’s look at the last three Democratic presidential wins. When Clinton won in 1992 and 1996, Republicans could blame Perot. When Carter won in 1976, Republicans could blame the long-departed Nixon.
Obama’s win was the first time since 1964 that the Republicans have lost the [...]
What matters to the GOP
Posted in History, Politics on September 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When was the last time the Republican Party chose a presidential candidate who had neither been a fighter pilot nor been wounded in wartime?
Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Will the cycle be unbroken?
Posted in History, Politics on September 25, 2008 | 3 Comments »
At The American Scene, Jim Manzi speculates that we are seeing a liberal realignment in the 2008 election. I agree that a realignment is happening, though I have no idea if it will turn out to be liberal or whether it will happen this year or in 2012. However, it will certainly be Democratic.
What drives [...]
Today’s amazing fact
Posted in Commerce, History on September 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The rivalry between shoemakers Adidas and Puma is based on a Nazi family feud.
Who knew?
Tippecanoe and Tyler 2.0
Posted in History, Politics on September 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Very old presidential candidate? Check.
Campaign presents wealthy presidential candidate as a simple man of the people? Check.
Campaign fetishizes presidential candidate’s military experience? Check.
Campaign focused on insults to the exclusion of issues? Check.
Little-known vice-presidential candidate with uncertain party loyalties, chosen purely for balance? Check.
William Henry Harrison and John Tyler did not work out well for the [...]
GOP words of wisdom
Posted in History, Politics, Quotation on September 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
For the 1916 presidential election, Republican leaders tried to find a candidate who could unite the party, after the Progressive split of 1912 had cost the GOP the presidency.
The elders’ first choice for a unifier was Elihu Root, who had won the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize and been a cabinet member for 10 years. He [...]
American freedom
Posted in History, Quotation, USA on August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The land of the free! [America] is the land of the free! Why, if I say anything that displeases them, the free mob will lynch me, and that’s my freedom. Free? Why I have never been in any country where the individual has such an abject fear of his fellow-countrymen. Because, as I say, they [...]
Democratic unity
Posted in History, Politics on August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Tonight’s Democratic National Convention lineup is scheduled to include Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy.
To continue the theme:
Tuesday night will have Walter Mondale and Gary Hart
Wednesday night will have Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson
Thursday night will have Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown
Newspaper control
Posted in History, Media, Quotation, USA on August 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Newspapers have a much greater importance in America than they do in Europe. You must not conclude, however, that the press is more free in the New World than in the Old. With us it is the government that watches over and controls the newspapers; in the United States, the religious sects and political parties [...]
