Today, June 28, 2014, marks the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Murdered alongside his wife while traveling through the streets of Sarajevo, it was the catalyst for a series of unfolding events that, one month later, led to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia. Within one week, by August 5, 1914, Russia was marching west and Germany was at war with five countries, including France and Britain. As the fabric of Europe frayed, the United States maintained its neutrality. Among historians there is consensus that the shots fired in Sarajevo were the first shots fired in every successive western conflict - the Armistice of the "Great War" set the stage for the spread of fascism, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II. That in turn led to the Cold War and its proxy conflicts within the Middle East and elsewhere. I say this only to highlight the fact that it was an event that set the twentieth century as we know it into motion. Well, this and imperialism.
Tag: history
Minnesota on the Death of Darwin: “If one such man arises in a century, that century is fortunate.”
There's a certain charm about small-town newspapers. In the case of those early publications - long before radio, television, the Internet - this was where a community got its news, entertainment, and gossip. This was Facebook. As an archival historian, let me tell you: there's always something waiting to be discovered. So, after realizing that April 18 marked the anniversary of Charles Darwin's death, I thought I'd do a quick search to see how Minnesotans responded. But, first, I'd like to share something published three months earlier, on January 18, 1882. Now, for those unfamiliar with the evolution-creationism debate, the Nye-Ham debacle was their first exposure to the creationist movement. Far from being a contemporary phenomenon, though, that kind of nonsense proliferated before the ink on The Origin of Species was dry. Fortunately, then as now, there was always someone available to mock the church - before there was PZ Myers there was the small-town editor doing newspaper-vaudeville. In the New Ulm Weekly Review, for example, was published the text of a "sermon" by the fictional Reverence Plato Johnson.
Sinclair Lewis and Floyd B. Olson at Breezy Point Lodge
Overlooking Minnesota's Big Pelican Lake is a lodge, a large one, renowned for the visitors it's attracted in its long history. Everyone from actors to governors have stayed there, planting themselves on Breezy Point Resort's long, lumber decks overlooking the lake. It's some of the state's best fishing and also the spot where the author Sinclair Lewis met future-governor Floyd B. Olson for the first, and only, time in 1926. Spending the first half of the year in Kansas City gathering material for his next book in June Lewis headed to Breezy Point to sit down and write. His choice of the northwoods was twofold as it "offered a sophisticated inn where he could get a good meal and drink with Minneapolis' business elite, as well as rustic isolation" (Lingeman 282). When he wasn't writing, Lewis could be found in the lodge doing impressions (as he was known for) or leading guests "in hymn singing around the piano" (Lingeman 285). Many of these he knew by heart since childhood but some came from his time shadowing ministers for what would become Elmer Gantry.
Minnesota’s “Mrs. Peter Oleson is Mrs. Peter Oleson.”
In the early 20th century it was not uncommon for women to identify with their husband's full name and so when women started running for public office it raised an interesting question - how should their names be listed? In Minnesota this question was answered when, in 1922, DNC-member "Mrs. Peter Oleson," Anna Dickie Olesen, announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate. In what would be the state's first direct election of a senator with a full electorate, it was an open question which name would appear on the ballot.
Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky on “Is There Hope in This Desperate Time?”
I know some of my readers won't be particularly interested in this, but I thought I'd share it anyway. Recorded in September 2004 to raise funds for Spare Change, a street newspaper, the video brings together two of the top public intellectuals of our time, Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, to discuss whether there is "hope … Continue reading Howard Zinn & Noam Chomsky on “Is There Hope in This Desperate Time?”
Study Methodology, Even If You Believe in God
A friend of mine recently posted an article from The Atlantic ("Study Theology, Even If You Don't Believe in God") and I just wanted to address something that I found a little irritating. In brief, the author, Tara Isabella Burton, argues that we should mourn the decline of theology programs in both the US and UK … Continue reading Study Methodology, Even If You Believe in God
“I have never been there, but I have read Babbitt — and the villages are all Main Streetish, aren’t they?”
Studying America in England While going through the University of Minnesota's online archives, I came across an article called "Studying America in England" from The Minnesota Alumni Weekly (December 12, 1931). Written by a fresh alumna named Mildred Boie (class of '27), in it she talks of her trip to Cambridge to study English literature. Specifically, she … Continue reading “I have never been there, but I have read Babbitt — and the villages are all Main Streetish, aren’t they?”
Reading “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Matsuo Basho
I was reading the blog of the New York Times Review of Books and came across a particularly interesting article about author and translator Bill Porter ("Finding Zen and Book Contracts in Beijing"). In it the writer talks about Porter's growing popularity in China given not only the burgeoning middle class that is able to … Continue reading Reading “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Matsuo Basho
Father to OccupyMN: The Farmer-Labor Association and the “Farmer-Labor Leader” Newspaper
The last several weeks have seen me whisked away to the archives of the University of Minnesota Morris where I have been researching the Minnesota Power Line Controversy of the 1970s (these archives have a really good collection of documents one will not find at the state's historical society; wiki). Sifting through hundreds of pages … Continue reading Father to OccupyMN: The Farmer-Labor Association and the “Farmer-Labor Leader” Newspaper
The New Renaissance Humanism: Studying Not the Great Men but the Laymen
While evolutionary psychology may be one of the best ways we have for understanding human nature (whatever that may be) history allows us to take a less-quantitative approach by observing the actions, motives and thoughts of man through time. Presumably because any change to our “nature” would require mass selection over the course of hundreds … Continue reading The New Renaissance Humanism: Studying Not the Great Men but the Laymen
Joshua Panduro Preston 