From the day you had your first history lessons in school, you’ve probably heard stories of the American Revolution and the greatness of our nation’s founders. Even if the reasons have become a bit fuzzy, places like Lexington, Concord, Valley Forge, and Yorktown remain landmarks in our collective memory. I’ll bet, however, that your high […]
Month: October 2018
George Orwell and the Spanish Civil War
Today I was reminded of one of my favorite stories from history, George Orwell and the Spanish Civil War. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began. On one side were the forces of the slightly left-of-center elected Spanish government, on the other, the hard-right fascist rebels of general Francisco Franco. After the war began, various […]
The Spalding World Tour of 1888-1889
The late 1800s was an age of imperialism, and Albert Spalding knew it. Powerful European nations struggled across the globe to carve out colonies and extend their military, economic, and cultural influence to the ends of the earth. America’s industrial interests were doing the same and, in its own way, the game of baseball was, […]
The Symbolism of the Bison
Along with the grizzly bear and perhaps the wolf, the bison is the iconic animal of the American West. The symbolism of the bison seems a key aspect of Western history. Its numbers were legendary. There were so many bison roaming the West 200 years ago that estimates were almost pointless. In his journal entry […]
The Baseball Playoffs & Mathematics
I was following the moves at baseball’s trading deadline this year like I normally do. I’ve written three books about baseball history, after all, so I still follow the game as much as I can. The behavior of most teams attempting to reach the baseball playoffs this year struck me as a superb example of […]
The Scientific Method
The value of the scientific method can, perhaps, be summed up in the following verses from English poet Alexander Pope. Nature and Nature’s Laws lay hid in Night: God said, “Let Newton be!” and all was light. –Alexander Pope The above bit of verse might be mediocre, but it sums up a change developing in […]