A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
A bit of an editor's note before this post, since this is going to involve some 'inside baseball' for Classics and some necessary background (also, this is not going to be a 'family friendly' post due to the subject matter; reader discretion is advised). The following essay is one I wrote very early in July … Continue reading Miscellanea: What’s the Problem With Antigone?
Happy Holidays to everyone, however you observe them! I normally take this week off every year but since we had the whole of last month off and I had some things I wanted to expound on, I thought I would do a Fireside instead. Percy getting into the holiday spirit. In particular, I want to … Continue reading Fireside Friday, December 23, 2022 (W(h)ither History)
I generally try to avoid having Twitter disputes spill on to the blog. Generally what happens on Twitter is best left on Twitter and in some cases not even that. However this past week I was pulled into a Twitter debate with Noah Smith about the validity of the way that historians offer our knowledge … Continue reading New Acquisitions: On the Wisdom of Noah Smith
Fireside this week! The Spring semester is now in full swing and - knock on wood - so far seems to be proceeding without too much in the way of disruption. I'm hoping to have part II of "Decline and Fall?" for you all next week but in the meantime I wanted to take a … Continue reading Fireside Friday, January 21, 2022 (On Public Scholarship)
Graduate school application season is upon us and so I wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk about it. Every year, I talk with undergraduate students who are considering pursuing a graduate degree in the humanities, who mostly come to me because they know that my graduate school experience was relatively more recent … Continue reading Collections: So You Want To Go To Grad School (in the Academic Humanities)?
This post is now available in audio format here. Note from the Editor: This week, Michael Taylor joins us to present A Defense of Classics. The last decade or so has seen Classics (the study of Mediterranean antiquity or more narrowly the study of Greece and Rome) in a hard sort of quandary. On the … Continue reading Meet a Historian: Michael Taylor on Why We Need Classics
Fireside this week! A little break after wrapping up our look at Europa Universalis IV. The next things coming up on the blog are going to be a look at who the Romans were and who they thought they were and an extension of our examination of EU4 into one of Paradox's other titles, Victoria … Continue reading Fireside Friday: June 4, 2021
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
This week I want to explain how the academic side of history (the part that happens in research universities, a term I will define in a moment) leads to the history content that the public at large consumes.
Welcome! Fireside again this week (but Collections next week!). Pull up a chair. The Classicist in his natural environment: hiding behind a small mountain of Loebs, OCTs, Teubners and Cambridge Green-and-Yellows. I actually don't own any Budés, which are much like the Loebs, but in French (published by Les Belles Lettres), but they're also very … Continue reading Fireside Friday: March 13, 2020