Blog-o-rama!!

Part One: Hello Post

Like so many people, I took history in elementary school. I learned about the founding fathers, Washington’s wooden teeth, the Revolutionary War. Like so many people, I took history in high school, too. I learned about the Civil War, the 20th century of war, the Great Depression. Like a smaller number of people, I took history in college. There, I learned about the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, the Berlin Wall. And like the smallest number of people yet, I chose history as my major. And finally, four years later, I’m getting to the good stuff. 

 My focus within that major is American History - a subject that, to some, may seem to be already overdone, already overstudied, somewhat like kicking a long-dead horse. But the academic study of American History is currently turning over a new leaf. Over (thank god) are the days of just names, dates, and the heroification of individuals.  Scholars like Lawrence L. Levine are beginning to integrate the study of culture, the study of entertainment and leisure with traditional realms like politics, military history and the great documents. What is emerging is a fantastic blend of the stuff you thought you’d never touch again (Jefferson did this, Kennedy did that, that first Thanksgiving was really special…) with the stuff that is inextricably tied in to the way you live your everyday life (”300”, Phantom of the Opera, Sox in the series). 

This isn’t history the way it has been taught. This is history the way it should be explored, debated, questioned, doubted, probed and ENJOYED. This blog is my way of giving you access to the questions we should have been asking since day one; the fun ones. Let me give you an example. In 19th century America, the plays of William Shakespeare, that oh-so-esoteric and high-falutin’ playwright, were the single hottest and  most popular ticket in town. People who could barely read flocked to his plays, people who had put up the money to support the whole production showing up in numbers just as great. Shakespeare was parodied, included in all kinds of pop culture references, in advertisements, in other plays. Most often, performances of his plays were accompanied by food, lots of noise, talking to the actors on the stage, vocal reactions to what was happening, drinking, songs in between the scenes, acrobatic acts, cutting scenes that seemed too long, etc. Shakespeare was a part of the popular culture, exactly as he was when his work was first published in 17th century England. Shakespeare was The Man. Literally. Bet nobody ever told you that, huh? 

That’s the kind of question I hope to be writing about on this blog. The ones you haven’t heard, didn’t know, never got to talk about. My focus will be mainly on the 20th century, will some spillover to the 19th and our own, the 21st. I will address issues of history, culture, the role of sports, of movies, of Six Flags, I hope to humanize and make more accessible things like military history, strategy and moments in our past that seem to have defined us in some way. And my name…well. That’s not really important, is it? Call me Wishbone.  

Part Two - Profile Post

  Maybe I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am to report that there are quite a few blogs out there that talk about US History. I suppose I’m not surprised that many of them are quite academic and professional, functioning mostly as forums for writers, editors, researchers etc to pre-publish their work or pieces of it and get feedback. It seems as though the internet has become a sort of international gathering ground for professionals and amateur buffs alike to come together and exchange ideas and information.

            One of these blogs that I came across is entitled Today’s History Lesson, produced by a user named Joel Mundt. His personal profile is relatively limited. He seems to prefer to keep most of that information anonymous, but his posts speak for themselves. He is prolific, posting almost every day and thoroughly on topics as wide ranging as the Rape of Nanking before the Second World War, to one of his personal favorite stories of the close call atmosphere that absolutely pervaded the era of the Cold War.

These posts were also two of my favorites of his. His writing style really draws the reader in, allowing them to participate in what’s being said without sounding preachy. He also manages to give a lot of information in his posts, as well as draw the interest of the reader. After I read his post on the Rape of Nanking, I was definitely curious to know more; not necessarily of the atrocities themselves, but of the differences between Japanese and Chinese military culture, the involvement of Hitler in actually stopping these human rights offenses, etc. I was also, however, quite keen on following his advice about reading the book; “Today, I use the word “recommended” loosely,” he says. “There is incredible courage and strength detailed in this book, but also unbelievable suffering and awful violence.” Maybe I’ll save this book for another day.

In terms of how this blog relates to the blog I’m hoping to produce here, the model is almost perfect. Joel addresses lots of different questions, confining himself to loose parameters and boundaries that allow him free range over the realm of American diplomatic and political history, as well as questions of culture and international relationships. It is exciting to be able to click onto his blog and know that I’m going to get something different each time, something that really excited him enough to provoke him to write rather than just something that fit into a narrowly prescribed theme. I think this broadness of topic also helps ensure a broadness of audience. Because his posts are well-thought out and well-researched, he appeals to an academic or professional audience. Because his tone is casual and conversational, he appeals also to a more amateur or popular audience as well. And because he writes on many different topics rather than going very deeply into a single one, many different fields can find something to relate to in what he writes.

I have to admit that before I created this site, I was highly skeptical of the role of blogs, their usefullness or even the level of enjoyment possible for a reader or a writer. It was basically an online diary. I was not impressed. But I may be on my way to becoming a convert. The ease of the medium is hugely seductive. The ability to respond so quickly necessitates your involvement. But it’s more than that. In a class of mine today, we were having a discussion on the importance of the free flow of ideas between scientists regarding the development of the atomic bomb. After having done even this cursory research, I wonder if the internet, and the forum that it provides to those willing to look for it, may one day provide that kind of saving-grace tool for thinkers around the world.

 Part Three: Voice Post 

The voice of a writer may seem at first glance a very simple concept. Whatever you write is whatever you think, you just create the idea in your head and then you type or you pick up your pencil and voila, the writer's voice. I have come to realize, though, through studying writers in high school and college and through writing my own stuff and having it (sometimes brutally) critiqued, that the voice of a writer is a carefully thought out, crafted and marketed commodity. The voice comes from the thought of the writer, his or her perspective on the world, their history and past, their feelings about their topic and their level of familiarity with it. It also includes some respect paid to the audience they are writing to and the effect they hope to have on that audience. A writer hoping to interest teenagers in the latest vampire romance novel would quite obviously have a very different voice than an author writing an article on Franz Marc for the art issue of the Atlantic Monthly; but that difference comes from conscious choice and careful editing.

With these ideas in mind, I had been reading some of Rod Adam's latest postings on his blog "Atomic Insights." He is writing for an educated audience, an audience interested in a pretty specific set of issues, namely those of nuclear energy and application of nuclear science. He is also writing for a group of people who already have some kind of exposure to this material. He especially depends on exposure in a current events context. He writes not necessarily about nuclear history, but about modern-day dilemmas and uses of nuclear research. While I am educated and can keep up with him in an academic sense, I am not very plugged in to that last criteria. But it says a lot for his voice as a writer that he manages to make himself understood. He writes clearly and passionately, showing some penchant for the run-on sentence but making his points nonetheless.

He also talks as though he is with you in your home, with a good fire going, with a good beer, having these conversations. In one post, he writes about the nuclear energy company Exelon. He divulges the information in the post like it's something that's been bothering him for a long time and he just has to tell someone. He uses pop culture references, opening the post with a small introduction to the concept of "friending" on Facebook, which helps to make his posts current, and keep them out of the realm of "boring" academia. Even though this particular post was a little on the long side, he stayed cleanly on point and provided strong evidence for all the claims he made.

In an interesting counterpoint to this post, was his post about Sweden's efforts to step up their nuclear energy program. This post is quite short, gives only one link as support for his information, and otherwise relies wholly on his own personal knowledge and his persona as a writer. An interesting addition to that persona (the educated yet friendly and approachable upper middle class nuclear energy guy) is an almost teenaged attitude. Even the title of the post, "Sweden may finally acknowledge what many observers have known for years," betrays a flippant personality that only someone who is intimately connected with his subject could get away with. I think that this is interesting and funny, but also potentially dangerous as it could intimidate shy readers and irritate others. Perhaps others who happen to be from Sweden.

In conclusion, though, Mr. Adams does a very effective job. While his blog is clearly marketed for a specific audience, he reaches out to that group -  through his intelligence and knowledge, but also through the way he presents his information; his voice as a writer.