Years worth of studying might be over, but please do not forget how to read! Do yourself a favor and read an enlightening book over the summer. Too much time has been spent on getting you to read quality works for you regress to a primitive state. After encouraging my students to read material, such as Lincoln’s greatest speeches, I would not want to imagine freshly molded minds roting away once more. Oh well, I tried.
With all the chatter about whether these modern “Tea Parties” have anything in common with the famous Boston Tea Party, it is very easy to get lost in political interpretations. Much like Michael Keating’s musings over the RNC’s twisting of historical truths, Publick Occurrences is deepening our understanding of the historical associations, or lack thereof, with the current tea partying crowd.
After viewing The Rachel Maddow Show’s episode on the Republican Party’s so called Tea Party, I started to think of a response to post on my blog. I contemplated the RNC’s complete lack of historical correctness when linking their current disdain for taxes with the tax issues of pre-Revolution America. Nonetheless, I was not sure how to convey some of the most straight forward facts about the real Boston Tea Party to a political party that is notorious for ignoring bothersome truths.
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A lot of talk over how to combat these new age pirates has been going on for a few years, with the only major action being the increase of foreign warships in the waters off western Africa. Has this helped? Anyone following the news this week is well aware of the capture of an American merchant vessel by pirates of the coast of Somalia. So in short, no, using modern warships has not helped. Much of the blame can be attributed to the lack of sufficient numbers in armed ships as well as the rules of engagement agreed upon by many of the nations taking part in the anti-piracy patrols.
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A most crucial lesson to learn before heading off to graduate school is the ability to read a book strategically. The higher level undergraduate history courses may have had a fair number of books to be read during the semester, but professors often choose to not instruct their students on how to read the books properly. Upon entering ones first graduate seminar, with a reading list of a dozen books, a student might start to question how they are ever going to finish each book while remembering any arguments. If one reads only the most critical portions of any book, then it is possible to complete even the most daunting of reading lists.
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Synopsis
The purpose of Thompson Werk is to present the musings of a US War and Society doctoral student. Discussion topics principally center around the World Wars and Vietnam.
The opinions expressed on this site are not be confused with those of my colleagues, employers, friends, family, and/or anyone else associated with me.
Contact me with any comments, complaints, and/or questions.
Responses
- Robert: Everyone needs to see Vietnam,
- Ross Mahoney: Sounds like it is another
- Robert: My original post omitted the
- Robert: Hey Ross, Vietnam is a
- Ross Mahoney: Robert it looks like a
