The Female Face In Modern Western Art
Here is another composite image video from YouTube. This one shows the evolution of women’s faces through the style of painting over the previous 500 years in Western art. Unfortunately, it doesn’t...
View ArticleThe Economist on Turkey’s Political History.
Simplifying mightily, its bumpy path to democratization goes roughly as follows: set up an empire; inherit a caliphate; fight on the losing side in a world war; in desperation dissolve the caliphate...
View ArticleWas La Rochefoucauld a Pessimist?
Because of his writings, especially his maxims, La Rochefoucauld is historically seen as overly pessimistic; however, one should consider first if this is really a “bad” thing and if the maxims were...
View ArticleHow to get along with Iraqis: Circa 1943
The following text comes from an American Army guidebook that was distributed during the second World War to soldiers stationed in Iraq. (Emphasis added to some lines.) SOME IMPORTANT DO’S AND DON’TS...
View ArticleThe myth of primitive societies.
Humans who live in technologically primitive societies aren’t as intelligent as those who live in advanced societies…or so some of histories most influential personalities thought. The reasoning behind...
View ArticleThe rise of deism in western society
During the Age of Enlightenment, western society examined itself through religious texts; it found that the religious doctrines of the past lacked unchanging principles and most of them hearkened to a...
View ArticleThe power of the individual: The American Enlightenment and Romanticism
During the 18th century, scientific and social changes reshaped the concept of the self. The individual slowly separated from the collective and began to develop as an antithesis of the collective...
View ArticleGoogle Question and Answer: Religion in the Roman Empire
Some people search search engines by using a few keywords, but others ask entire questions. This series of posts is dedicated to them. Over the next couple weeks I’m going to pick full questions from...
View ArticleThe Germans did not destroy the world’s greatest civilization.
The Germanic tribes have been blamed for the collapse of the Roman Empire; however this is incorrect. For the most part the collapse of the Roman empire was not a collapse of an empire, but the slow...
View ArticleMedieval society was transformed by trade and “burgers.”
In medieval societies, the most widespread result of the revival of trade and urban life was the slow decay of federalisms and its inherent lack of loyalty and the infighting it promoted. Because of...
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