A look at the history of battle in popular culture
Fireside this week, but next week we are diving into our long awaited series on pre-modern textile production, though we will be particularly focused on the most important clothing fibers in the Mediterranean world, wool and linen (rather than, say, silk or cotton). Trusty Research Assistant Oliver helping me find the right volume of the … Continue reading Fireside Friday, February 26, 2021
This is the third and final part of a discussion (I, IIa, IIb) discussion of the notion that there is a 'universal warrior' - a transcendent sameness about either the experience of war or ‘warrior values’ which might provide some sort of useful blueprint for life generally or some sort of fundamental truth about the … Continue reading Collections: The Universal Warrior, Part III: The Cult of the Badass
This is the continuation of the second part of a three part (I, IIa, III) discussion of the notion that there is a 'universal warrior' - a transcendent sameness about either the experience of war or 'warrior values' which might provide some sort of useful blueprint for life generally or some sort of fundamental truth … Continue reading Collections: The Universal Warrior, Part IIb: A Soldier’s Lot
This is the second part of a three part (I, II) discussion of the idea of a 'universal warrior' - the assumption that there is a transcendent sameness about either the experience of war or 'warrior values' which might provide some sort of fundamental truth for understanding war, either in the past or present, or … Continue reading Collections: The Universal Warrior, Part IIa: The Many Faces of Battle
This is the first part of a three part (II, III) discussion of an idea I am going to term (borrowing from one of its proponents) the 'universal warrior' - the idea that there is a transcendent sameness about either the warrior experience or warrior values which provides some sort of useful blueprint for today … Continue reading Collections: The Universal Warrior, Part I: Soldiers, Warriors, and…
It's the first week of classes, so fireside this week. Next week, we'll dive into a short series looking at the question of the 'universal warrior,' the idea - too often repeated - that there is either a single consistent experience or personality true to all combatants to the present day. Also, for those who … Continue reading Fireside Friday, January 22, 2021
So this week I want to talk about how what I know a historian influences how I am interpreting what I am going to call the Capitol Insurrection that happened on Wednesday, January 6 instead of taking the week off as I had originally planned. Since that is a really heavy topic, I am also … Continue reading Miscellanea: Insurrections, Ancient and Modern (And Also Meet the Academicats)
This is the fourth part of a four part (I, II, III) look at the Dothraki from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones. We're looking at, in particular, if Martin's claim that the Dothraki are “an amalgam of a number of steppe and plains cultures” can … Continue reading Collections: That Dothraki Horde, Part IV: Screamers and Howlers
Happy New Year! Good riddance 2020! Fireside this week. Next week, we'll be finishing up our look at the Dothraki of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones by looking at how they are shown to fight and comparing that to the fighting patterns of actual historical horse-borne nomads. Of course, it's … Continue reading Fireside Friday: January 1, 2021
This is the third part of a four part (I, II, IV) look at the Dothraki from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones. We’re looking at, in particular, the degree to which George R.R. Martin’s claim that the Dothraki are “an amalgam of a number of steppe … Continue reading Collections: That Dothraki Horde, Part III: Horse Fiddles
