History

Fire From the Gods: Oppenheimer as a Greek Tragic Hero 2
- Entertainment, History, Literature, Science
- March 27, 2024
Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.” These chilling words appear in the opening title sequence of Christopher Nolan’s newest film, Oppenheimer, about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Nolan’s film catalogues Oppenheimer’s education and early
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We Shouldn’t Be This Invested in a Presidential Election 1
- History, Politics
- March 22, 2024
The reality of a Trump-Biden rematch has provoked a torrent of weeping and gnashing of teeth in the mainstream media. One article after another had declared the 2020 redux as the matchup Americans “don’t want” and are “least excited about,” with one pollster describing it as a “cruel joke.” All of this consternation highlights one of the
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On the ‘Times’ Machine: A Trip Into ‘The New York Times’ Past 1
- Culture, Featured, History
- March 21, 2024
For my birthday this year, one of my sons gave me an unexpected gift. The brown box, rectangular and less than 2 inches wide, contained another slightly smaller box, black and classy, which in turn contained a complete and original copy of the Thursday, March 1, 1951, New York Times, the newspaper from the day
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‘The Zone of Interest’ in Forgiveness 8
- Entertainment, History
- March 20, 2024
The Zone of Interest won two Oscars this year. It is a highly stylized dissection of the character of Rudolph Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz. In his cozy home, with a wall separating his family from the horrors of the extermination camp, Höss was the kindly father of five children. On the other side, he was
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The Secret Purpose of Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’2
- Philosophy, Featured, History, Literature
- March 13, 2024
The most common view today of 15th-century Florentine philosopher-statesman Niccolò Machiavelli is that he was evil. Dubbed the founder of modern political philosophy, his evil reputation comes from his most famous work, The Prince, which openly endorses treachery, deceit, and backstabbing as political tactics. So, it’s no wonder that most people’s idea of Machiavelli is
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Samurai Who Weren’t Japanese 0
- History
- March 12, 2024
Many Americans owe their knowledge of Japanese samurai to filmmakers. Renowned for their discipline and courage, the samurai were the military nobility from the 12th century until the abolition of their class by Emperor Meiji in the 1870s. The armored, sword-wielding warriors figured prominently in James Clavell’s 1975 best-selling novel, Shōgun, and its adaptation into a blockbuster TV
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