It is my 70th birthday today. I have studied History for most of my life, and I am now beginning to feel as if I am a part of it! Not because I am feeling old and dusty–I don’t feel that way–but just that I have seen and experienced so much history in my own life. From the Civil Rights movements, the Space program, the Vietnam war, on up through the current crises under Trump. It is quite a journey. But my grandfather and great grandfathers lived to be nearly 100, so I expect to still see a lot more!
This section of the website is more or less centered on just observation, notes and ideas: a miscellaneous collection of random observations. I do not intend to make lengthy commentaries on the news, as there are people who do this very well and in great depth in other places. If you are interested in that, I mmight suggest checking out The Bulwark, Chuck Todd, and Jon Stewart on YouTube. If you find someone you like, please contact me and I will check them out.
But this is just a place to notice history going by.
Today I posted Kim Stafford’s poem Resilience, and feel it is something we can use now, but it also seems to be something at the heart of History itself.
One observation: Years ago a book entitled The End of History was a brief favorite on the book charts. I hated the title then and I still loathe it. The argument essentially was that with the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, Capitalism and Liberalism had won out, and we had reached the end of progressive development.
I think we are in the opposite situation. The Cold War promoted a kind of enforced unity on American society and culture. The Sixties tried to break out of the conformity of the Fifties, and seemed chaotic. But all of that was happening in a bubble of stasis generated by the post WWII world order. Up until the Nineties, world history kind of held its breath, afraid of causing nuclear armaggedon, and cooperating with the American led economic order. Cooperation was valued above Great power geopolitics. But that sense of stability has been steadily sliding away, and now seems to be collapsing quickly. We are, it seems, not at the end of History, but returning to its traditional patterns and behaviors.
I mourn the loss of that order, and hope to see it return, but fear it will not. Something new is emerging. History is not over; it is returning with a vengeance. As a historian (retired), I am concerned by the daily news, both at home and abroad. I do believe we will survive the changes that are coming, but we will be changed by them. Whether for good or bad is yet to be seen. But History does show not only brutality in the past, but also great efforts to achieve justice and peace and a better world for our children. Both forces are powerful, and we can chose which paths we follow in the coming days, months, and years.
My History Notes 