The War of 1812: An Essential History by Carl Benn Osprey Publishing, 2002, 122 pages, $35 The average American male has a firm although possibly rudimentary grasp on several of the more prominent wars of our nation’s history, their causes, their important events and their resolution. Most of them can site important dates and events such as D-Day or Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River. Few however can tell me you much about the build up, events during, and resolution of the War of 1812. Dr. Carl Benn curator of the Museum of the City of Toronto and professor and the cities university is author of several books on several different facets of the conflict hopes to remedy this lack of understanding and knowledge problem with his latest work. With this mission keenly in the forefront of his mind he artfully uses The War of 1812 as both a concise form of entertainment and a vessel for true understanding of the significance of this conflict.
Zinn’s tone differs from that of the text that he gives many different points of views of history. In his book, “A People’s History of the United States”, he is shown to often give examples from other textbooks, readings, passages and quotes. In my opinion it is good that he wrote his book this way. It was very easy to follow and I often found myself not able to put down. It gives the reader many different perspectives on very important moments in history and allows the reader to form their own opinions.
Gloria Agwegwe CLA 1010 October 6th, 2010 The Difference between the Behistun Inscription and Herodotus’ Histories The Behistun Inscription and the Herodotus’ Histories have its similarities, but it also has its differences. The Behistun Inscription was a first-person account by Darius with emphasis on his legitimacy, his support from Ahura Mazda, and how he has surpassed his predecessors in all things. Herodotus’ Histories also gave information concerning Darius’ rise to the throne, it was also based on Herodotus’ journey and was told from his (Herodotus’) point of view. These two works, while they are similar in some ways, they differ in the circumstances before and during his reign. The first major difference was regarding the conspiracy to dethrone the false Smerdis/ Bardiya.
Niko Stines AP World history 8/15/13 Hammurabi Code: Was it just? I believe most laws in Hammurabi's code were just in protecting the people but the penalties were unfair against the accused. Throughout his laws he continues to keep his people safe but at the same time teaches them that an eye for an eye is okay and in most cases revenge is never the best answer. From law 218 to law 21 he promotes violence to all citizens of Mesopotamia. Hammurabi was a ruler of Mesopotamia for 42 years and was the first to really set laws for his land.
This style f writing makes sense for him to use, since Ellis has written a number of other biographical books about these two men and their counterparts, such as American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson and Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, both critically acclaimed and regarded as two of the best books on our second and third presidents. Ellis’ juxtaposition of these seemingly
An American Journal Article Review: “Deciphering Memory: John Adams and the Authorship of the Declaration of Independence” The article began with John Adams, who was portrayed as a man of principle and integrity, recalling a particular event where he appointed Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence and the latter who seemingly denied the whole incident ever happened. The dominant purpose of this article seems to be to convince the readers that science, specifically cognitive psychology, can explain why both parties gave conflicting memories of the event. Robert E McGlone claims that there are new advancements in psychology that can be used to further explore the nature of a memory. To begin with, McGlone contested Dumas Malone’s 1948 writings, which implied that “if Adams’s recall of detail was suspect, his memory of essentials is correct”. He reasoned that “commonsense resolution of the matter alone cannot resolve the issue”.
He has studied the original sources of the Jamestown colony for many years and has written numerous articles about Jamestown. His literary effort was one to correct myths and incorrect conclusions about the Jamestown colony and the people in its founding history. He does this by meticulous attention to historical detail in his efforts to explain the personal actions of the colonist. He clarifies the lives and interactions of various individuals, especially those of John Smith and Pocahontas. He brings to light many truths not brought out in the American education system.
Sociology 204 “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” By Horace Miner Report #1 In America, we tend to use ethnocentricity and I feel comfortable saying that most Americans feel that what we do is better than others. In the short reading “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, the culture of a very different group of people is described. The piece is a personal narrative. The author has experimented with the Nacirema, a group which lives in various areas in North America. This group has many customs and traditions that we as Americans wouldn’t even think of; they drill holes in one’s teeth if they have none, then a certain medicine is put into these holes which is said to reduce tooth decay.
I feel that most of the worlds history is a collection of biased facts. Each country narrates its own history books and particularly selects parts that are favorable and suppresses parts that are unfavorable. The historians are going to write mostly, sometimes only the good or “acceptable” parts of the event. For instance, the excerpt that we read dealing with Christopher Columbus, most people know historically, that he sailed westward
Most ancient historians such as Herodotus, Xenophon and Plutarch all write about Lycurgus as if he was a real person and use relevant sources to explore and write about his life, yet they all stop short of literally stating that he was actually real. Even Plutarch admits in his book Lives that “absolutely nothing can be said about him (Lycurgus) that is not controversial ”. Clearly this generates great doubt and skepticism surrounding Lycurgus' existence. Herodotus was a classical historian and the first to write about Lycurgus in his book Histories. He wrote in the 5th Century BC, some 200 years after Lycurgus is alleged to have lived.