Category: History & Culture
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What is History: An Essay, Part I
History is an educated guess on a wing and a prayer. Mere shadows of the past come to life in history but can shadows be trusted? Our views of history can be revised, mis-understood or completely wrong. History can be pigeon-holed and molded to fit an ideology, point of view, or interpretation. History can drive…
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The Human Experience of the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War created a surreal environment where normal rules of civility did not apply. Soldiers had to live with the immediacy of death. This psychological game of trying to cope with war’s grim reality distanced them forever from their former civilian life. Tim O’Brien in his semi-autobiographical Vietnam War novel The Things They Carried…
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Shakespeare, Branagh, & the Historical Accuracy of Henry V
Here’s an essay I wrote a short time ago on the comparison of Shakespeare’s drama The Life of Henry V and Kenneth Branagh’s film depiction with a historical description of the battle of Agincourt. How does the Bard measure up? Shakespeare’s historical drama The Life of Henry V is a glorious tribute to the indomitable King Henry…
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Vietnamese New Year & Tet ’68
Happy Vietnamese New Year Everyone! I enjoyed many Tet holidays in Vietnam visiting neighbors, being stuffed with delicacies by eager grandmothers who wouldn’t be satisfied until I would hold my stomach in agony and beg her not to put more on my plate. (She should anyways.) Tet is a wonderful time for family and friends…
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Haitian Rara
I wasn’t planning on posting about Haiti again so soon, but I referred to the Haitian rara processionals last week and thought you might like to know a little more about it. It’s quite interesting. As always, full documentation available on request. The culture of the impoverished dark-skinned Haitian majority has thrived, and in its…
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Stalin – the Little Boy
I’m a student of history as many of you know. I came across this essay I wrote a while back about a little boy called Soso whom the world would eventually know as Joseph Stalin. I’ll post more later, but I thought you might find this short paragraph to be of interest. (Full documentation available…
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A Word about Haiti
Recently, I did some research on Haitian ethnomusicology. (Don’t ask!) If you are interested in Haiti, you might like to read the following short excerpt from an essay I wrote about music’s impact on Haitian culture and history. This portion is about Haiti’s newest president who came to power in 2011. (Full documentation available on…
Author Mark W Sasse 