Category Archives: history

Endangered Lincoln statue isn’t what it seems

June 29, 2020 – 11:00 am

I guess statue destruction is the topic du jour, but do read about this one, as it raises some conflicts for protestors. About ten days ago, I reported about a statue of Abraham Lincoln that might be pulled down or replaced. The original is The Emancipation Memorial (sculptor: Thomas Ball, erected in 1876) on Capitol […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Authoritarian Left, race | Comments (35)

Pandemic redux: 1918 vs. now, and the advent of “mask slackers”

May 29, 2020 – 12:30 pm

Reader Charles Sawicki contacted me with two links to articles about the 1918 “Spanish Flu” pandemic that killed 5 million people worldwide (the first victim was actually in Kansas), and the similarities between those times and ours. In particular, the two articles below and the photos sent by Charles, deal with the mandatory wearing of […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in pandemic | Comments (30)

“The ‘1619 Project’ is filled with slovenliness and ideological ax-grinding”

May 11, 2020 – 9:15 am

by Greg Mayer The New York Times‘ ‘1619 Project’, and the critical reaction to it, has drawn attention here at WEIT a number of times. The diversity of the sources of criticism has been notable, ranging across the traditional political spectrum from left to right. In another salvo from the right, conservative political commentator George […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in 1619 Project | Comments (46)

Post by Matthew Cobb: A Resistance attack on a convoy of Jews heading to Auschwitz

April 19, 2020 – 9:30 am

Tonight marks the 77th anniversary of a daring and unique rescue, when members of the Belgian Resistance tried to free a train full of Jews being transported to Auschwitz. Matthew wrote about it in one of his books (see below), and kindly offered to provide a piece for readers. The story is largely unknown but […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in anti-semitism, war | Comments (19)

NYT backs off a bit on some claims of the “1619 Project”

March 15, 2020 – 12:00 pm

by Greg Mayer The New York Times is backing off just a little from some of the claims they made in the “1619 Project”. Interestingly, as both an online and paper subscriber, I found out about it not from the Times, but from Andrew Sullivan in New York Magazine! [JAC note: Jake Silverstein, the author […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in 1619 Project, journalism, journalists behaving badly, racism | Comments (13)

More on the 1619 Project

February 2, 2020 – 12:15 pm

  by Greg Mayer Last August the New York Times Magazine launched what it called the “1619 Project“. The project’s promoters wish to change the general understanding of American history, and to have their view of American history adopted by schools. The project has generated a wave of backlash from historians. (The Times‘ Project is […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in 1619 Project, journalism | Comments (26)

George Packer gets Hitchens Prize for free expression, decries the Offense Culture as a detriment to writing and thinking

January 24, 2020 – 9:45 am

Although I thought the Atlantic was pretty Leftist, it also seems to be pretty reasonable, or at least anti-woke. The latest issue contains two such pieces, the first a long critique of the New York Times‘s “1619 Project” written by Sean Wilentz, a history professor at Princeton and one of the signatories of a critical letter […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in 1619 Project, books, journalism, literature | Comments (22)

Wednesday: Hili dialogue

January 22, 2020 – 6:30 am

It’s Wednesday, January 22, 2020, and today I’ll be flying back to a Chicago just as cold as Boston (right now it’s 21° F or -6° C in Boston). It’s National Southern Food Day (America’s finest regional cuisine), National Blonde Brownie Day (another word for a square, soft, chocolate-chip cookie), National Hot Sauce Day, National […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (26)

How did the Romans go to the bathroom?

January 13, 2020 – 2:00 pm

I’m sure you’ve asked yourself this question before, although not necessarily with Romans as the subjects.  What about the Greeks, the Babylonians, the ancient Chinese, the Mayans, and so on? And there’s not just the matter of where to dispose of your excreta, but how you clean your nether parts thereafter. In India, cleaning with […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in health | Comments (92)

The 1619 Project: Historians versus the New York Times

December 29, 2019 – 11:30 am

There’s no doubt that America has been marked in a big way, with many people still marginalized, by the presence of slavery in our history. I see this every week in Chicago, America’s most segregated city, where (except for Hyde Park, where I live), white and black communities are largely separated, with the latter having […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in 1619 Project, journalism | Comments (75)