Tag: history

  • *They Thought They Were Free* by Milton Mayer

    My notes from They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer. Published in 1955, this book is a collection of stories by Mayer, a Jewish-American, as he interviewed 10 Germans in Kronenberg. Each of them were involved with Nazism in some form, but none of them were very high in the ranks of leadership, in […]

  • February Reading

    Currently finishing A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History by Manuel DeLanda. Fascinating re-thinking of history using nonlinear metaphors, but sometimes I wonder if he pushes the metaphors too far; I don’t have enough background knowledge to say either way. I’ve got They Thought They Were Free (via pushcx) from the library which I’ll start this […]

  • Leonardo

    From the chapter on Leonardo da Vinci in Visari’s Lives: Da Vinci would buy and the immediately release birds… He was so pleasing in conversation, that he attracted to himself the hearts of men. And although he possessed, one might say, nothing, and worked little, he always kept servants and horses, in which latter he […]

  • Learning from History

    What can history teach us? From Chapter 1 of Hegel’s Introduction to the Philosophy of History: Rulers, statesmen, and nations are told that they ought to learn from the experience of history. Yet what experience and history teach us is this, that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, nor acted in accordance […]

  • Pride and Cosmopolitanism

    Around 170 A.D., Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Pride is a master of deception: when you think you’re occupied in the weightiest business, that’s when he has you in his spell.” Even in religion, “pride” is listed as the most detrimental of the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride is the insidious parasite that sidles into your consciousness when, […]

  • Case Study: Two Leaders, One Strategy, Centuries Apart

    The Colloseum in Rome, Italy. (Photo: jonrawlinson on flickr) Gods, epic myths, heroes, and damsels in distress. The history of ancient times fascinates me. Below is one of my favorite stories from Greek history. The story of Xenophon’s mission to return 10,000 Greek mercenaries to their homeland. And for entertainment’s sake—and to display a fantastic […]