Projects

In my reflection of the writing of the historians we’ve covered in this class, from Herodotus through Alistair Thomson, I feel as though I have been influenced by several houses of history from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Marx, Ranke, historical sociology, anthropological and ethno-history. Marxist writers, focusing on history “from the bottom up” and how economics affected the poor changed the way history was studied. No longer was history just about th

Eusebius, and other early Christian writers, were pioneers in the practice of citing sources to lend credibility to their work. Continued throughout the middle ages and into the Renaissance, the practice of citing sources became especially important when humanist historians developed practices such as textual criticism to ferret out errors inherent in ancient texts which had been copied and preserved in monastic centers. Although some of these works were credited with the ree

The histories written by Roman and early Christian historians were composed different intentions but were written to capture and record for posterity events, deeds and truth as it was perceived to each historian. The truth written by Roman historians was political in nature, whereas Christian historians focused on religious truth as evidenced through the world in which they lived. Polybius wrote in The Histories to educate and train people for political careers. He sought to

Small Literature Review on Carr & Gaddis Edward Hallett Carr wrote in his 1961 book, What is History?, that “great history is written precisely when the historians vision of the past is illuminated by insights into the problems of the present.”[1] This viewpoint permeates the book, for Carr believed that the lens through which a historian views history will be shaped by who he or she is. The circumstances and lived-experiences of one’s life shapes how historical events will b

In Morris Berman’s The Twilight of American Culture, he posits that just as with major civilizations of the past, like ancient Athens and the Roman Empire, American culture is experiencing decline. This is caused by several factors including spiritual weakening, crumbling school systems, widespread functional illiteracy, economic inequality, and a false sense of individualism called “McWorld” by political scientist Benjamin Barber (Berman, 3). Politically, we are descending i

In Morris Berman’s The Twilight of American Culture, four factors are identified which are contributing to the loss of contemporary American civilization. One can see evidence of these factors; social inequality, loss of entitlements and the social safety net, a trend to deemphasize education and death of organized religion, in the culture and current political climate. These are some of the same factors cited by historians which contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. H

Intellectual thought in America at its founding was dominated by those who ascribed to Enlightenment thought which originated in Europe. This intellectual tradition can be traced to the Protestant Reformation. The Founding Fathers were influenced by Enlightenment thought and led to the three founding documents of our nation; the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers. These documents enshrined values held dear by Americans – equality, individuali

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison all influenced the founding of the nation through their writings in many and varied ways. Seen, collectively as the Fathers of the Nation, these men contributed to and promoted the ideals on which our democracy was founded; reason, freedom and equality. These themes, originated in Enlightenment philosophies, provided the clarion call for the Declaration of Independence, revolution and the foundation of an entirely n