Each year, newcomers arrive in Whitewater to take positions of one kind or another. Two weeks ago, in Welcome to Whitewater, I posed this question to new residents: “If Whitewater were perfect – that is, complete and lacking nothing – would anyone have needed you?” Beyond that question, with its interpretation and answer left to…
History
Alt-Right, America, Film, History, Liberty, Trump
Don’t Be a Sucker
by JOHN ADAMS •
In 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, the United States Government, fighting on both sides of the world, commissioned a short film about fascism entitled Don’t Be a Sucker. The film describes the fight in which America was embroiled in the style and vernacular of that time; it’s even more compelling to me…
America, History, Music
Monday Music: Why Yankee Doodle called it “macaroni”
by JOHN ADAMS •
History, Holiday, Military
Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Explained
by JOHN ADAMS •
History
A Craft of Future Past
by JOHN ADAMS •
A Craft of Future Past: Mastering Antiquarian Horology from Great Big Story on Vimeo. Brittany Nicole Cox is one of the only antiquarian horologists in the world. She’s basically a mechanic—a mechanic from the 17th century. Cox fixes old machines with watch or clock mechanisms inside them for a living. Often, these machines are missing…
History, Weather
Shoveling Snow Through the Decades
by JOHN ADAMS •
Authoritarianism, History, Politics, Resistance
What Grant’s Overland Campaign Teaches for Grave Political Conflict
by JOHN ADAMS •
For matters far removed from warfare, including ones concerning severe political conflict, Grant’s Overland Campaign offers useful lessons. It’s typically a poor idea to describe political affairs in military terms, but grave threats to the political order sadly call for a different approach. One fights in more than one way: sometimes using maneuver, at other times…
America, History, Immigration
The 1940 Map That Depicts America as a Nation of Immigrants
by JOHN ADAMS •
Lauren Young describes The Powerful 1940 Map That Depicts America as a Nation of Immigrants: In the years leading up to the Second World War, isolationist sentiment coursed pretty strongly throughout the United States. Some Americans feared that immigrants were a threat to the country. Sound familiar? Then you’ll have no trouble understanding the reasons why the map below, titled America–A…
History, Language, Trump
Full Transcript of Trump’s Black History Month Remarks
by JOHN ADAMS •
History, Immigration, Law, Liberty
Trump Surrogate Defends Precedent of Internment Camps
by JOHN ADAMS •
Carl Higbie, a Trump surrogate, while speaking to Megyn Kelly on Fox News suggested the internment of the Japanese during the Second World War as a precedent for a registry of Muslim immigrants to America. Kelly rightly rejected the precedent, as the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War and the Korematsu decision…
History
Weaving the Threads of History
by JOHN ADAMS •
At one point, Venice, Italy, was famous around the world for producing some of the finest textiles. Velvet—woven from thousands of fine silk threads—was especially desirable. In 1500, the clatter of 6,000 enormous looms echoed through the streets of the ancient canal-lined city. Today there is just one company left producing velvet in the traditional…
History, Law, Liberty, Politics, Presidential race 2016, Trump
Kevin Drum on Trump and the End of Reconstruction
by JOHN ADAMS •
Blogging at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum – like many of us, of whatever politics – seems uncertain about the consequences of a Trump Administration. (In fairness, much has happened in a short time, and it’s hard to make sense of it all.) Still, Drum’s thinking has shifted significantly over the last few days, in ways…
Architecture, Faraway Places, History
A Medieval Abbey Trapped by Tides and Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
Documentary, History, Technology
And the Internet was Born: The Creation of the ARPANET
by JOHN ADAMS •
Bridget Galaty has produced a fine documentary on the ARPANET, an early packet-switching network. Ms. Galaty is a 12th grade Video Cinema Arts (VCA) student at Denver School of the Arts (DSA) – a public, magnet, arts school within Denver Public Schools (DPS). Her work here, and her other videography on her YouTube channel, is…