Just a quick thank you to all of you who pitched for the first Society meeting. Good cake, and Nick’s review is in the comments section on the page above.
It was a pretty grim way to start, but the Warsaw Rising will clearly help you with your coursework. If you want to know more then I will order a copy of Norman Davis’s Rising ’44 for the library.
Mr Kydd.
If you click here you will get the latest edition of Making History from Radio 4. It has been recommended to me by a friend of the site (ok – Mr Podesta). What is noteworthy to us as A Level historians is that it is a discussion about the environmental history of the Fens. For the record I had never heard of the breedlings before, and I now want to find out their fate. More broadly, as Helen Castor suggests, “a landscape that changes is a landscape that loses its memory”. This is an interesting idea, and remember that you can see the Tudor programme of her excellent She Wolves series in history society in October.
Environmental history is a form of study that is relatively new here, but is very fashionable in the USA. I think it reflects two trends in academic history.
1. The increased use of new technology and scientific methods.
2. The increased specialisation of academic history.
Have a listen and see what you think.
Mr Kydd.
A couple of original finds from a friend of the site.
If you click here you can see a series of old black and white photographs converted to colour. For me particularly noteworthy is the thumbnail image on the left of Joseph Goebbels scowling at photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt after finding out he’s Jewish in 1933. Have a look and see what you think.
This link takes you to a diagrammatic representation of the relative power of the great states since 2000BC. It shows the ebb and flow of power well, but the later stuff does feel rather western. There is no insight into how the judgements were made. I would be interested to know what you think.
Mr Kydd.
I have published the history society programme for Autumn term. The downloadable version for you can be found here. They will usually be 3.30 to 4.30 on Tuesday (with cake) in T10.
The more observant of you will have noticed that the Society now has its own page on the bar above the newsfeed. The plan is that this is where we will post the reviews of what we watch, read and visit.
Mr Kydd.
There have been a number of archaeology stories in the news recently, and I thought it might be good to pull them together in one post for those of you thinking of an archaeology degree. I have said before that archaeology is one of the most dynamic forms of history in that ideas here change much faster than the main stream subject.
I think that it is noteworthy here that all three pieces of research use different technology and scientific methods. I have used the BBC links here, but you might like to consider other news reports to contrast how the matters are reported.
Here aerial archaeologist Toby Drive explains how the recent drought has helped him to discover a rare Roman fort and marching camp in Wales.
Here geophysical techniques have helped archaeologists find a medieval manor house in a Leicestershire village, which “disappeared” three centuries ago. The house, in Croxton Kerrial, near the Lincolnshire border, was last recorded in the 16th Century and had disappeared from maps by the 1790s.
Here the apparent remains of King Alfred in Winchester will be tested for validity. Invasive samples will be taken for carbon dating as well as isotope and oxygen analysis to show where the person in the coffin was born, brought up and even what they ate.
Mr Kydd.
Sincere apologies all, but the pressures of examinations and the end of term meant that I missed the passing of the great Penry Williams in May. Many of you will have come across his text The Later Tudors as further reading in the Elizabethan course. I have put a couple of copies in the school library, and your unit work booklets have the appropriate chapters highlighted.
This excellent obituary from The Guardian reflects his worthwhile life well. In terms of his work as a Tudor historian, it highlights his debate with G R Elton over the nature of Tudor government, stating “his take on 16th-century government…was… that there was not a revolution in administration led by Thomas Cromwell, as Elton had claimed, but a continued tangle of local patronage and favouritism”.
As is often the way with historians, this “was vindicated only after bruising academic controversy.” As such, it again gives us an insight into how personal rivalries often energise historical debates. For my part I have always thought Williams has a concise yet busy writing style, that was best when he was working with emperical evidence. See for example chapter 6 of the Later Tudors on economic matters.
Mr Kydd.
All,
A colleague from another school recommended this website to me. History and Policy set themselves the mission of producing “better public policy through an understanding of history by connecting historians, policy makers and the media.” They believe study of the past can offer important lessons for the 21st century.” They provide access to an international network of almost 400 historians with a broad range of expertise, and offer a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists. These include policy papers and the excellent opinion pieces.
There really is so much here that it is overwhelming. Have a look, and see what you think. It is a wonderful opportunity to bring yourself into contact with historians at work.
Mr Kydd.
There is a piece of comparative / journalistic history in The Independent here. In it Professor Kevin Dutton argues that “Henry scores 174 on a “psychopathic spectrum” which starts at 168 (the “average” male scores 112). In The Wisdom of Psychopaths, out in paperback this autumn, Dutton looks at 10 historical figures, including Winston Churchill and Charles Darwin. The Tudor king is his only “bona fide” example: Henry scores highly for emotional detachment and cold-blooded ruthlessness, which Dutton says are characteristics of “dangerous psychopaths”.
Perhaps, and the key point for this research is that there is criteria for this comparative analysis. By instinct however the historian should always be careful when drawing judgements across time and culture. It is a great tool to develop analysis, but as the History Society found out last week when we looked at Ivan the Terrible, it has plenty of pitfalls.
A classic Early Modern example of this is how we should judge the burnings of “Bloody Mary”. Revisionist work on the reign of Mary (such as The Stripping of the altars by Eamon Duffy – I have a copy you can borrow if you want) present avery different picture of the English Counter Reformation.
Read the article and see what you think for yourself.
Mr Kydd.
It has been particularly pleasing to me to see that the BBC have made available some of their lectures from the 1970s by the legendary radical historian AJP Taylor. I warmly remember my history teacher showing us his half hour programme where, for a few weeks, he convinced the world that the First World War started because of the Russian railway timetable. “That’s how you put an argument together boys” to quote Mr Sneddon…
His lectures are excellent things for an A Level student to consider, not least because they are the very antithesis of much of what is produced today. Compare for example at this trailer for Sky’s “The British” with Taylor’s discussion of Europe in 1940 here, and you can draw your own conclusions about style V substance. Moreover, the fact remains that Taylor’s lectures regularly drew in over 10 million viewers on Sunday nights. As Dhruti Shah comments, there were not special effects, rather “he drew in the audiences with his strong opinions and unscripted lecture.” A BBC article on Taylor can be found here.
Taylor is sometimes accused of putting clever arguments before solid history. To that effect you might like to read this review of a recent biography of Taylor. It states,“while a few of his books – especially The Struggle for Mastery in Europe (1954), English History, 1914-45 (1965) and the provocative Origins of the Second World War (1961) – are still read, none is considered entirely reliable”. Perhaps, but that misses the point. All three are utterly extraordinary, and I will happily lend you my copy for a summer read if you want to come into contact with a touch of genius.
Finally, and above all please do take the chance to watch him at his best. Here he discusses Churchill’s reputation.
Mr Kydd.
All,
This is the link to a very special exhibition at the British Library in London which is well worth a visit this summer. Moreover you with youth on your side (ieyou are under 18) get in free.
The Propaganda: Power and Persuasion exhibition explores “international state propaganda from the 20th and 21st centuries. From the eye-opening to the mind-boggling, from the beautiful to the surprising, posters, films, cartoons, sounds and texts reveal the myriad ways that states try to influence and persuade their citizens”. I have spoken to two people who have been been and they claim it is genuinely thought provoking. I intend to go this summer, and I wrmly recommend it to you.
Oh, finally the chap in the picture is Bert the Turtle – he was the face of US Civil Defence when nuclear war threatened in the 1950s and 1960s. You can watch the whole film here .
Duck and cover everyone.
Mr Kydd
