Category: History & Culture
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An April Shower of Dominoes: 40 Year Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War
April 30, 2015 marks the official end to the Vietnam War. April 1975 was as sobering month for the Washington crowd who foolishly hung on to the ideals of the Truman Doctrine. When the South Vietnamese government surrendered Saigon, it completed a remarkable run of luck for the communist rebel groups of Southeast Asia. Within…
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Revisiting a Classic from the Civil Rights Era: Black Like Me
The premise of Black Like Me couldn’t be more succinct or effective: a white journalist goes under medical treatments to turn his skin black in order to understand the black experience in the deep south in 1959. This is an astonishing and gripping self-penned account of John Howard Griffin’s decision to try something radical. What’s the…
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Arab Achievements & the Convergence of Cultures (Part II)
Part 1 HERE One of the most significant areas of Arab achievement was in the realm of language and education. This is not surprising due to the fact that Arabs had a long and meaningful love affair with language, stories and poetry. In the Islamic era, the chief text for reading and studying naturally was…
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Arab Achievements & the Convergence of Cultures (Part I)
During the first few centuries after Muhammad’s death, the Muslim Arab culture converged with many ancient people groups in and around the Arabian Peninsula. This diverse Arab population accomplished many achievements in both the sciences and humanities which in turn influenced vast regions for many centuries to come. Among the many significant Arab achievements, it…
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Top Eight Cold War Issues
In my history class, I decided to mix things up and try something different this year when dealing with the Cold War. We decided to create a “TV Series” entitled “Cold War Episodes” in which we outlined the biggest issues and events that everyone should know about the Cold War. At some point, I’ll probably…
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Is this an opinionated question? (An example from Truman & the A-bomb)
As a teacher, sometimes I’m asked this question about the questions I ask my students: “Is this an opinionated question?” “Yes it is,” I reply. “So you can’t mark it off, right? It’s just an opinion.” “Oh no, you can most definitely get it wrong.” “But how can an opinion be wrong?” “Perhaps an opinion…
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Reflections on Tet ’68: The Power of Media
Happy TET everyone! It’s almost become a tradition here to conjure up remembrances of Tet ’68 every year. This is a post I originally posted over two years ago and I thought I’d let it fly one more time. Have a great new year! (By the way, no self-respecting Vietnamese would ever call it Chinese New Year. Just…
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Our Culture in a Headline: “Beyoncé convinced Jay Z is hiding things from her”
I saw this headline on a news site the other day. I simply have one question: do people really care? I’m serious. Are there people out there who will gladly click on that link to find the latest gossip? I know the answer to that. I’ve come across Justin Beiber groupies and Miley Cyrus fans…
Author Mark W Sasse 