Instead of viewing history as linear – either toward invariably greater human progress or else certain destruction – what if history is cyclical along a fairly set pattern?More
Category Archives: History
Book Review: ‘The Jungle Books’ by Rudyard Kipling
The book version of The Jungle Book is more complicated than I anticipated. For starters, it would never have been written for us to enjoy if not for the British Empire having colonized India. More
Will the Real Saint Nicholas Please Stand Up?
Redeemer of young girls headed toward prostitution. Saver of sailors bound for execution. Heretic puncher. The bishop of Myra merits a graphic novel treatment if you ask me.More
James Hankins and How to Be on the Right Side of History
What if the future actually belongs to the children who are now receiving a classical education in good character, rhetoric, logic, and knowing stuff?More
1986 – The Year I Was Born
While my rehearsing these factoids may be interesting and entertaining in its way, it may also be chasing after wind if I stop short of a certain conclusion.More
Whether Our Family Does Anything for Halloween
As a large and fairly conservative homeschooling family, I get the same question every year about this time. “Do you guys do anything for Halloween?”More
Heavy on History – Refreshing the Audiobook Queue
This time around, I have elected to replenish my list of current titles with a lot of history spanning the past millennium from the Crusades to the present. More
Series Review: ‘The Asian Saga’ by James Clavell
Spanning 1600 to 1979, and set in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Iran, the stories all add up to one thing – the beauty and horror of what happens when East meets West.More
Book Review: ‘Charlemagne’ by Johannes Fried
What if Charlemagne had the right of it, though? At least in some important ways, though certainly not all respects, I think he did. More
Book Review: ‘The Life of Greece’ by Will Durant
If only the self-impressed scholars of the last century would concede that their framework for understanding the ancient past is an impediment more than an aid. More