Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Blog History Unfolding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog History Unfolding. Show all posts

Monday, April 25, 2011

History Unfolding: Collapsing Authority

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Collapsing authority

I learned long ago that comparison is the best basis for judgements about people, societies, and historical periods. The human race has been measuring itself against ideals at least since Plato, but such measurements are actually quite arbitrary since they take no account of what is possible in real life and what is not. On the other hand, if, confronted with 100 adults, one notes four of them standing higher than the others, one can safely identify them as "tall." A batting average of .350 is outstanding because so few hitters manage to achieve it. Economic growth, unemployment, and even justice can all measure the same way.


And thus, I decided long ago, comparative history is by far the best way to make judgments about societies. One may compare in two dimensions, across space or across time. In Politics and War I did both. Now comparisons are on my mind because I am buried deeply in the early 1940s and, to a lesser extent, in the decades that proceeded them--and certain things...

Read the whole entry » http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/2011/04/collapsing-authority.html

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Apr 04, 2011

Yesterday the New York Times printed one of the funniest corrections that has appeared in that august paper for some time. It read: ... http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/2011/04/bismarck-kissinger-and-new-york-times.html ...

Monday, April 04, 2011

History Unfolding: Bismarck, Kissinger, and the New York Times

Yesterday the New York Times printed one of the funniest corrections that has appeared in that august paper for some time. It read: ... http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/2011/04/bismarck-kissinger-and-new-york-times.html
...
When one reaches a certain level of eminence one's thoughts automatically become publishable. That in turn leads to temptations to which I am glad never to have been exposed. I'm glad I was taught to get my facts straight and to read the most authoritative works on subjects of interest. None of this is designed, by the way, to make any judgment about Jonathan Steinberg's book--I doubt very much that these errors originated with him.


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