So as not to reinvent the wheel... I'm bringing back a post from last year...
This year, my favorite veteran... my grandfather is no longer with us - and I know he took this day to call many of his friends from the service and the grea
t men he's met throughout his years.
Now Grandpop is in the sky hanging out with all his 'doughboys' celebrating upstairs.
Here's a brief history of veterans day - http://ushistorysite.blogspot.com/2008/11/veterans-day-brief-history.html
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Veteran's Day
Friday, November 06, 2009
Gettysburg: One Man's Visit
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm an excitable reader. By this, I mean that I get excited about reading, and usually try to bite off more than I can chew. But this is never a bad thing.
When it comes to books, I have a problem. I rarely finish them. This is probably due to my excitability around books and the subjects they cover. I'll read 90% and gladly pick up another if the mood suits me. I'll read 4, 5, 6 books at one time. And as a dedicated teacher and father it is hard to find time to sit back and relax with a good book.
This weekend is no different. I'm going to Gettysburg, and I'm excited about a few books.
For my birthday my wife has decided to take me to Gettysburg this weekend. A short drive from our home in Philadelphia, Gettysburg is one of those places that has always eluded me. So I'm excited to finally get the opportunity to go. And we're not just going. We're GOING. We're leaving tonight (Friday) and staying all day Saturday and some of the day Sunday.
In preparation, and for the little downtown I'll have (with bringing our 3 1/2 month old son with us), I've brought with me, two books. One I've already read; The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
. It's a favorite of mine, and because of the way it's written, it's a book I've finished. I hope to thumb through this and pull out some good dialogue concerning the battle.
The other book I've brought with me is a collection of speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln
. This book, from the Library of America collection is a cool looking canvas bound book, which looks great on a book shelf. (a book shelf that doesn't exist in my house)
These books, along with the history of Gettysburg, the nightly ghost tours, the quaint little town of Gettysburg and my incredible wife and son, are sure to make my birthday weekend enjoyable. Oh, and an Eagles win over the Cowboys Sunday night would help too. All of this might make the Phillies loss a little easier to swallow.
Happy Reading!
Go Birds!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Top Ten US History Inspired Halloween Costumes
The following comes from an email I received from my good friends at Shmoop.com - Shmoop is an awesome site for teachers and students. It's history and literature lessons with a twist...
Check out the links below...
This Halloween, scare up some fun with these US history and lit-inspired costumes
Ten US History-Inspired Halloween Costumes
1. Put on a three-corner hat and cape, pull a cardboard boat around your waist, and pose as George Washington crossing the Delaware during the American Revolution.
2. Dress up as Benjamin Franklin with a kite and singed hair. Be careful around the French maids.
3. Pretend to hitchhike as Christopher Columbus with a sign that says "India or bust."
4. Dress up like Abe Lincoln - with two tickets in his breast pocket.
5. Test people's knowledge of US history trivia by putting on a turn-of-the-century suit, carrying some bags of fake money, and painting your nose purple. Yes, JP Morgan really did have a purple nose.
6. Try a scandalous costume for a trio: Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy.
7. Wear a suit and a Richard Nixon mask. Carry a hollowed-out pumpkin filled with film. You're reenacting the "Pumpkin Papers," a famous Cold War incident in which future President Richard Nixon took down Soviet spy Alger Hiss.
8. Dress up as Betsy Ross with a half-finished American flag. Include a rainbow flag, a pirate flag, and yellow smiley face among your book of samples.
9. Sport your finest 1920s-style outfit, a plastic Tommy gun, a cigar, and your best Al Capone accent. Rave about the merits of the 18th Amendment and Prohibition.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Still Out there....
It's been some time since I've addressed this blog. A few things have been happening. I have a 3 month old son, and as always my role as teacher, and now athletic director and father take away much of my time.
A big thank you to those that still keep me in your "inbox" and RSS feeds. There will be much more for me to contribute in due time.
I've taken steps to simplify my life - perhaps from a new found perspective of fatherhood - and this blog and is something I love to do... and thus, will be part of that simplified life.
I know I've promised some of you the opportunity to contribute to other sites I've created as well. Those will be on the horizon also. Sit tight and stick with me. First up, is www.TodayInUSHistory.com - so I'll be contacting those that showed an interest in researching for that site.... thanks in advance.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Daily History Quiz
For fun... here's a site where you can test your American history knowledge. Enjoy a new contest everyday.
http://www.historynet.com/quiz
Friday, September 25, 2009
USHistoryQuotes.com
An ongoing project to add to the success of USHistorySite.com, I've recently launched USHistoryQuotes.com.
USHistoryQuotes.com will have more than just quotes from presidents and your cliche Americans, but will also include important and more obscure statesmen, athletes, activists and artists.
Would love to get some suggestions from my readers as to who should be included on the site. In other words... who do you think is quote worthy?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Upcoming Contest on EverythingHistory.com
Starting Monday 8/31, EverythingIsHistory.com will be running a trivia contest on their website.
I've been told it won't be that tough, and they'll actually give you the answers before they ask the questions.
So what's the incentive? CASH and PRIZES!
There will be a prize given away each day, including a grand prize of a $50 gift card to Amazon for one lucky participant!
The rules are simple, it's free to participate, and you can find more details here: http://everythingishistory.
The winner for the day will then be chosen at random from the correct answers and will be announced the following morning. Prizes include the books State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America
, and How the States Got Their Shapes
, and a few others.The blog is pretty cool too... so check it out.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
100 Twitter Feeds That Teach You History
Some people don't understand Twitter. Part of that problem comes with its original intent. But what Twitter has become is so much more. Twitter is a great place to find information... just choose a few good people to follow and suddenly you're inundated with more cool links than you can handle.
Here are some Twitter feeds that offer all sorts of historical facts ranging from American history to European and everything in between. Labeled, the 100 Twitter Feeds that Teach You History.
This blogs feed was included.... now check out the other 99.
http://associatedegree.org/2009/08/19/100-twitter-feeds-that-teach-you-history/
And if you haven't already, sign up for my feed... http://twitter.com/USHistorySite - I post information about cool websites and articles that are appropriate for my audience.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Links to History: World War II Comic Books
I receive great information via email and love to that information with you...
This one comes from the editor of America in WWII magazine... and it reads:
"While preparing the current issue of AMERICA IN WWII magazine (available at Barnes & Noble, Borders), we found two gutsy, fun, high-quality World War II comic books produced by, believe it or not, the US government!
America was desperate for high-octane warplane fuel early in World War II. But sagging morale slowed refinery construction. The US government's Petroleum Administration for War (PAW) searched for a solution and decided the answer was...comic books! PAW published two comic books for petroleum refinery construction workers in 1943.
We ran a photo essay on the comic books in our current issue. But the comic books are so cool that we decided to post both of them in their entirety on our website, www.americainwwii.com, as downloadable PDFs.
Here are the urls for the comic books: http://www.americainwwii.com/
Both comic books are in the public domain. The copies we scanned are housed in the National Archives II in College Park, Maryland.
Please feel free to share the links and pass the comics around. Who knows, they may just raise morale nationwide!"
There... I just did.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
What would Teddy Roosevelt think about Michael Vick?
Many of you may know I live and breathe Philadelphia. I was born and raised in the outskirts of this town and I'm proud to now live within it's boundaries. With that, comes a love for the Philadelphia Eagles.
For the record, I support the franchise and it's signing of Michael Vick. Many outsiders probably don't understand head coach Andy Reid and the problems his two oldest sons have had with drugs and run-ins with the law. To make a long story short, they've made some terrible decisions, and they've been given a second chance. Michael Vick deserves that chance too.
And as it turns out, the day after the Eagles' shocked the world by signing Michael Vick, was a day I was able to look into the past and find out what Teddy Roosevelt might think about what Michael Vick did. Douglas Brinkley's book The Wilderness Warrior, gives us a glimpse of Roosevelt's views on animal cruelty.
Roosevelt, an avid hunter, had no problem defending his seemingly hypocritical beliefs. It would be a difficult task to find someone who loves hunting - and eating game - more than Roosevelt. His defense? Darwinism. Stay with me here... In the wild, the death of the hunted was very violent, where prey were often torn to pieces by their predators. Hunting, if done correctly, was a more human way of killing the animal. Roosevelt insisted that hunters follow an ethical code to make it a true gentleman sport. He didn't like traps or abusive treatment of wild or domestic animals. Even cattle and lambs brought to slaughter should be handled with dignity. The Roosevelt family, firmly believed that animal shelters and sterilization methods needed to be established in major cities. So I think we can conclude that Roosevelt would not have approved of dog fighting.
As a child a horse being flogged or a dog being kicked made Roosevelt sick. President Roosevelt believed that all animals could feel pain, and therefore deliberate infliction of pain had to be stopped. Roosevelt also believed that some animals had emotions and thought similar to humans. To quote him...
"I believe that the higher mammals and birds have reasoning powers, which differ in degree rather than kind from the lower reasoning powers of, for instance, the lower savages."
Roosevelt's grandfather, Cornelius V.S. Roosevelt and his grand-uncle John J. Roosevelt both played integral parts in the establishment and incorporation of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Theodore Roosevelt: The Wilderness Warrior - A Man Before His Time
What's amazing about the quote below, is not the eloquence of the statement, but the idea behind it. A man before his time, often criticized for his desire to preserve land, Theodore Roosevelt's quotes are even more special today. Our new found desire for greenness, and the reality of environmental awareness as a true virtue and the destruction of it as a true problem, make Teddy's words that much more important.
Used as in introduction to the The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."- Theodore Roosevelt, A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open (1916)
The picture here shows Roosevelt hiking Yosemite with Sierra Club founder John Muir. Roosevelt should be commended for setting aside so much land. The land TR saved for the National Forests was greater than France, Belgium and Holland combined.Roosevelt is a gem, and we are very lucky that he took the initiative to make conservation a national endeavor.
A book I'm reviewing now focuses on exactly this...
Roosevelt's role as the "naturalist president". The book, entitled The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America,
I'm enjoying this book so much - you'll probably see several blog entries from me concerning this book... great research, great read.
Click here to check out the book and read some reviews.
More Roosevelt Quotes:
http://ushistoryquotes.com/teddy
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm
John Muir Quotes:
http://ushistoryquotes.com/john_muir_quotes.php
Thursday, August 06, 2009
How to... embed a link into the comment field
First and foremost, thanks to all of those who chimed into the roll call. It's always good to get a sense of who's reading this thing and to find out how I can improve.
I gave you guys the opportunity to promote your blogs and websites - and many of you took advantage of that. However, I noticed that a lot of you with blogs and websites, didn't take the time, or maybe don't know how to actually link to your site.
So I took the time to show you how...
I used a cool tool called Jing to record my computer movements and show you how... Check it out below. The video is embedded, but it's much easier to see if you click the link below the video.
Click this link to see it full screen:
http://www.screencast.com/users/klkatz/folders/Jing/media/7936f538-dbed-4f40-abec-2107fb1900e6
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Roll Call: Who's Reading this blog?
Because of my curiosity and my desire to continuously improve this blog and the sites that accompany it, I'm gathering information. Another call to arms so to speak.
Once again, I'd like my readers to check in - and tell me a little about themselves. When I first did this, about a year ago, I had about 50 RSS subscribers/readers. I now have over 200. I also have close to 30 blog followers and a dozen email subscribers. Thank you all for wanting to receive my information, it's a pleasure providing it.
What I'd like is for some of you to chime in and give all of our readers a quick note about yourself. As a guideline, maybe you can answer the following questions.
- age, occupation - or you can be anonymous
- how you heard about/stumbled upon USHistoryBlog
- what part of history is your favorite
- which features you like about this blog - what else you'd like to see
- and if you have a blog/site of your own, feel free to plug it... this is a community
Thanks in advance for your time. And thank you for reading...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Government is Like a Baby... Ronald Reagan
With a 7 day old child, haven't found much time to write the things I'd like to write. But I did find this quote, which is appropriate on two levels.
"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite
at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."
- Ronald Reagan
For more quotes go to USHistoryQuotes.com
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