Maus by Art Spiegelman was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer prize. It tells the story of the Holocaust with the Jews depicted as mice and the Nazis depicted as cats. The news that a school board in Tennessee has banned the book (summarized by David Corn in MotherJones) has made me think of myContinue reading “Maus Censorship, JAHA, My Book and Me”
Tag Archives: History
Ida, Nellie and Ida: Trailblazing Women Journalists in the Victorian Age
I thought I would take a break from the coronavirus pandemic and politics to take a look at the history of the craft we call journalism. The late 1800s were a period of yellow journalism led by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst where sensational headlines were what sold newspapers. There were trailblazing male andContinue reading “Ida, Nellie and Ida: Trailblazing Women Journalists in the Victorian Age”
PBS Program on Data and Pandemics
PBS has a good series on how medicine has learned to fight pandemics. This particular episode focuses on how data is used to understand and limit pandemics. It starts with how William Farr used data to track a cholera outbreak. I’ve embedded this episode here for your enjoyment and information. **Related Posts** Income and LifeContinue reading “PBS Program on Data and Pandemics”
Protests and Pandemics: Lessons from History
Watching the developments of the past week were surprising even to me. Were the up swelling of protests over the death of George Floyd and the corona virus pandemic totally unrelated? Is Trump’s generally incompetent leadership a factor? The mostly peaceful demonstrations have been occurring just as the turbulent restriction from the pandemic are being lifted. Do peopleContinue reading “Protests and Pandemics: Lessons from History”
A Documentary on African Americans in Johnstown
The late Dr. Bruce Williams, professor of Anthropology at the Pitt Johnstown campus or UPJ as we call it, produced a documentary called We’ll Make the Journey on the history of African Americans in Johnstown in 1992. Seventeen older African Americans in the city were interviewed. The documentary states that there were two big AfricanContinue reading “A Documentary on African Americans in Johnstown”
Job Mobility for Slavic and Hungarian Steelworkers from 1900-1950
Below is another excerpt from my upcoming book on Johnstown by the numbers. It is a discussion of the job mobility of East central European immigrants in the steel mills in Johnstown, PA from 1900-1950. Ewa Morawska (1985) in For Bread with Butter: Life-Worlds of East Central Europeans in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1890-1940 thoroughly chronicles theContinue reading “Job Mobility for Slavic and Hungarian Steelworkers from 1900-1950”
Johnstown (PA) Books
It has been harder to find time to write on this blog between work, working on my book, and life in general. Tonight I did have time to write about some of the books that have been helpful to me in writing my book. The first series of books I would like to discussContinue reading “Johnstown (PA) Books”
Nonviolent Movements In Western PA? If You Know of One Let them Know
Iraq Body Count of Violent Civilian Deaths In Iraq Since 2003 I have been swamped with work and consulting and haven’t been able to post here. I should have time in the next few weeks. There have been various online researchers who collect data from the public to describe a social phenomena. Iraq Body CountContinue reading “Nonviolent Movements In Western PA? If You Know of One Let them Know”
Another David and Goliath Super Bowl?
The match up in Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons resembles the matchup in New England’s first Super Bowl win. Super Bowl XXXVI (37 in Arabic numerals) was a match-up between the Patriots and the St. Louis Rams. In 2002, the Patriots had an unproven young quarterback in TomContinue reading “Another David and Goliath Super Bowl?”
An Essay on Human Rights
This is an essay I wrote for admission to a Masonic lodge. Opinions differ about what human rights are. The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, has 30 articles. The Declaration of Independence famous statement that “all men are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights thatContinue reading “An Essay on Human Rights”