by Jim Bratt. Part I of this feature considered three classic novels and memoirs about the front lines of World War I. This entry considers two more and examines women's experience of the war. World War I being a total war, it’s important to gauge home-front experiences as well. Two English novels for your consideration, …
Continue reading World War I Novels and Memoirs (Part II)
by Jim Bratt. Following up on Bob Schoone-Jongen’s reflections about the outbreak of World War I, I thought I’d pass along mine on some classic memoirs and novels that came out of the war.The following doesn’t pretend to be a definitive list of greatest hits; more of what I’ve been sampling by way of book …
Continue reading World War I Novels and Memoirs (Part I)
by Bob Schoone-Jongen. “Celebration” does not seem to be the right word for marking the centennial of the Great War. “Observance” is better, less celebratory. Maybe solemn should be added to convey the somberness the great tragedy deserves. At any rate, the academic book binge that generally accompanies chronological mileposts has begun in earnest. …
Continue reading Book Note: The War that Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan
by Jim Bratt. Larry Eskridge, from Wheaton College, will be coming up to speak at our History department colloquium this Wednesday on the delicately phrased topic, “Jesus Knocked Me Off My Metaphysical Ass.” So I thought I’d give a brief summary of his recent book, God’s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America (Oxford University Press, …
Continue reading “Jesus Knocked Me Off My Metaphysical Ass”
by Will Katerberg. If you’re interested in the history of the American West, you should get ahold of Earle Labor’s new biography, Jack London: An American Life, which I've been reading. I read novels and short stories by London (1876-1916) when I was a kid, but didn’t think much about them. They were adventure stories, …
Continue reading Book Note: Jack London’s Call of the Wild
by Dan Miller. Was American founded as a Christian nation? That question is the title of a 2011 book by John Fea, an American historian who teaches at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Like most questions about the past, the answer turns out to be complicated. Fea was inspired (incited?) to write the book by encounters …
Continue reading Book Note: Was America Founded As a Christian Nation? by John Fea
Historical Horizons 