derekjahwu – Historical Thinking

My Trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

November 29, 2016derekjahwu

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Last winter I took a trip to New York because I’ve never been to the east coast before then and have always wanted to explore Manhattan. I went in a tourist state of mind and wanted to hit all the main “attractions” like Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Unknowingly I found myself most attracted to the museums that I found in the city. I spent most of my time in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I think I spent a couple of hours in their famous arms and armor room. Their collection displayed from 14th an 15th century European armor to 17th and 18th century French firearms. They also displayed an impressive collection of Japanese and other non-European collections of weapons, clothes, and armor. The exhibit designers did an amazing job in immersing any viewers into the reality of these artifacts with a frozen scene of six horsemen galloping in uniform fashion. Their collection was so immense that I was able to observe the advancement in armor design as I advanced in years in the exhibit. Other memorable exhibits included recreations of a first century bedroom to an early 18th century palace bedroom. I left New York with a new love more museums and a new interest in Oral History.

Health, Safety, and Typhoid Mary

November 15, 2016derekjahwu

Simply reading the prologue of this book creates many questions in my head. At first it was: why is she able to continue to work in the food industry with this disease, then it was: how could they isolate her from living her life? Then it went back to: she can’t keep working in the food industry if she continues to kill people. I was confused why we had to read about a woman who was the first silent carrier of the typhoid fever until I realized that the book dives into the development public health in America and at the same time, how to treat it’s infected citizens.

Just like how my views were changed and rearranged in the prologue, so has many aspects of society. It’s common that many would see it as obvious to isolate those that have a deadly and infectious disease, but once that person is a loved one that view is suddenly reversed. This book grabs my attention because it encourages the readers to take a side themselves, where the author provides perspectives from both Mary Mallon and also the health and safety policy makers, as sign of a favorable historical practice in my opinion.

I thought it was harsh to take into account the fact that she was a woman to determine that she was more of a health threat to society because statistically she may be the main cook for a family. If that argument is used to determine the level of typhoid threat within families, they would not only have to isolate the all women, but also the men who may also have involvement in a daily act such as cooking. I like sernian1 comparisons debates on vaccinations that we have today, where early 20th century is a time much before us, but we are experiencing very similar problems.

Worster and American Agriculture

November 6, 2016derekjahwu

Of all the different interpretations of the Dust Bowl, Worster’s spoke out to me the most because I partly agree with him. The “theme” during the late 19th and early 20th century was a mix of expansionism, nationalism, militarism, and other similar social structures, where the acquisition of land or territory equated to power. Power can then be defined as economic power or militaristic power. Where power is then used, as an obligation, for self-advancement or national advancement.

His example of the existence of American social order is to encourage personal wealth made me think of how we grow up today. Where in our culture, its very common to find what media defines as happiness and meaning as being rich and successful. On youtube you can easily find videos that have the title: “What i do for a living to afford a Ferrari” with the corresponding two million views, where people can experience the taste of successful personal wealth and hopefully learn the key to it.

I agree with rdaigh’s observation as he relates to Charles W. Calhoun, author of “Moving Beyond Stereotypes of the Gilded Age,” where this article also tries to do the same and explores the different interpretations people have on the Dust Bowl. It show’s how many factors there are in interpreting a certain subject and reaching an absolute answer may even be impossible.

Charlie

How to view Marx

October 18, 2016derekjahwu

Karl Marx is difficult to study as a historical figure because his thoughts are what cemented him into the history books rather than his actions. His views on the upper class industrial bourgeois and lower labor class proletariat sparked new forms of government in Russian and China. His strong negative view of the ruling upper class aimed to united the lower class proletariat’s in an effort to overthrow the bourgeois. He is also quite radical where he stated that communism can only be a success if all existing social conditions were conquered. Karl Marx is then better studied as a political philosopher where his views made the most impact.

Marx is difficult to be studied as a historian because his interpretation of his society was rooted in speculation of futures actions of the proletariat that would be potentially caused by the bourgeois. He does not take examples of past recorded history and tries to apply it to his time of existence.

I agree with erodriguez317 that Karl Marx’s views were not mean’t to be viewed in a hostile way like we do today. It seemed that he looked to help the majority of the population that had been suffering the most, where the majority had been the laboring class. Marxism had just been taken to an extreme degree after being a radical theory in itself.

The Political Side of the Storm

October 4, 2016derekjahwu

Patricia Bellis Bixel’s “‘It Must Be Made Safe’: Galveston, Texas and the 1900 Story” gives us an in depth look at the political side of the effects of the Galveston Hurricane. The people responded with two aspects of the Progressive era of political reform and reliance on modern technology that they used to come together and rebuild their town.

Unsurprisingly they begin with focusing on engineering solutions and fortifications that would better prevent or withstand another hurricane. Many ideas resulted in physical fortifications of large shore walls and embankments, or more technological that included placing a battery at the far shores off Galveston. Ideas also advocated for the city to move off the shore completely, justifying that it was too dangerous of an area. W.L. Moody Sr. creates the strongest motivation of staying at the current location when he claims that if another hurricane were to wipe all human life off the shores, men and women would still come and populate the area. What was decided was a simple concrete wall that stopped the waves.

People of Galveston also condemned their government system, saying that the public officials had different interest for the town compared to the general population of Galveston. They realized they needed a new form of government that would work better with rebuilding the town. Galveston nearly had a complete overhaul of their political system, employing five city commissioners that would each be assigned to a certain department of the city. The system seemed to work well as they all were working toward their common goal of rebuilding. I agree with mvanderdussen that the system worked well because the people chosen to oversee each department were most likely the most committed citizens to Galveston.

The people of Galveston reliance of modern technology and political reform ultimately helped them rebuild a town that would be more prepared for another hurricane.

Visualizing the Storm

September 27, 2016derekjahwu

Every part of Larson’s writing in Isaac’s Storm is filled with descriptive words in well constructed sentences that help the reader picture the effect, reaction, and aftermath of the storm. His style of writing helps give a lasting impact on the the disaster at Galveston where he describes the dead bodies as if coming back life by the rocking of the waves and the amount of bodies that had filled up the morgue.

I believed what is gained from Larson’s writing style is the unpreparedness of that comes from human nature. Even with early signs of strong winds and unusually dark skies, newspaper editors and regular residents still indicated that high water records would not be broken and a hurricane is not something to worry about. Larson also indicates the people’s actual pleasure of watching the storm where he describes children playing in the rain water and adults watching the storm off shore. How unaware the people seem reminds me of the Chicago Fire, how people living in a largely wooden city never considered that a fire may be it’s greatest weakness. Similarly, both of these disasters still have a positive aspect, where it shows the perseverance of the human beings. Mother nature, or a cow, had destroyed a large quantity of man made structures in the Chicago Fire and the Galveston Hurricane, but both the city and town had rebuilt itself with new buildings and improved safety measures in the new structures.

I agree with Jessica that what is lost is the reactions of other communities about the Hurricane. I personally enjoyed his style of storytelling and description and I believe that he could have also done a great job of describing the reactions of people who were not directly effected by the hurricane and what actions were taken by those people.

Walking to class today like:

History in a Novel

September 26, 2016derekjahwu

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed reading Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson partly because I have been reading very bland political history books and historiographies in the past few weeks, but also because a blend of historical knowledge mixed with story telling is very satisfactory for a history major. Since I’m taking a class on American History after the Civil War, it’s as if i already know the background information for the novel. Compared to books like Lord of the Rings, there are multiple pages before the actual story that you will need to read to better understand what Hobbits are, and how the ring was found. I found it interesting what terry_christi said that the novel is able to give a great sense of imagery throughout the reading. In the first chapter where Larson describes the white noise that Isaac hears in his house when he sleeps gave me the chills where I compare that to many similar sleepless nights in my room. I find it interesting that they chose the occupation for Isaac to be a weatherman because its rare or even non-existent to even read of such people even in my Survey of American History class. It helps personalize the character more, where he is not an ordinary mill worker or farmer at the turn of the century but a weatherman!

The Recklessness of Humanity

September 18, 2016derekjahwu

The Chicago fire seems like one of those moments when people say, ” there’s now way that will happen,” and it happens. The Great Conflagration noted that Chicago was not new to fires, proving that firemen of the city were experienced and had knowledge of preventing and stopping a fire. It seems then that the city was not prepared for a fire of that caliber. Interestingly, the reaction from people that saw the fire in Chicago from a distance would be the same as it would today. I remember hearing of the Yorba Linda fires a few years ago and it was close enough to my house for me to see it and yet, there was no panic in the household but only concern. We had faith in our fire department to be able to contain and stop the fire just like how the Chicagoans did in the city. Thankfully in our technological age, fireman have more than adequate means of suppressing a fire. It’s also interesting to note when the Chicago fire reached the Court House Tower, they eventually just released all the prisoners they had in the building. Compared to today, would we have done the same or differently? I can wager that all the prisoners were let free and not many of them were taken back. Hopefully today if a disaster of that caliber of the Chicago fire happened, they would be much more security regarding jails. However, I very much hold true in the saying, “its easier said than done,” reason being at that moment when the fire reached the tower, they must have believed at the moment that releasing the prisoners was the best idea. I agree with ngojosephs take on A.T Andreas quote that human intervention was detrimental to the city built by humans themselves which creates a bit of irony.

Historiography: Intimidating but Satisfying

September 6, 2016derekjahwu

After finishing reading the preface and chapter 1 of Jeremy Popkin’s From Heradotus to H-Net I knew immediately that learning about historiography will be much more challenging than learning about colonial America up to the Civil War. The content that is to come is very intimidating in the sense that it is a new way of learning and interpreting a subject that has been taught a very different way before entering college. Popkin’s reference to learning about historiography as a rite of passage is a great analogy because I agree that learning these skills will help any historian have a broader perspective and interpretation of history, opposed to simple facts and events that ultimately mean nothing in respect to itself. Terry_christi in Historiography: More Than a Love of History wrote that “It is possible to spend a lifetime loving history as a “sponge”; absorbing interesting facts, events and details from the past without ever critically evaluating the sources of the information. ” in which I agree that it is a fantastic feeling to delve into the mental time machine and to imagine living during the Roman Republic. But diving into historical text about that era would probably lead you to not want to physically live in the time of the Roman Republic. However learning the realities of a harsh life of the period does not diminish the love of learning historical facts, but rather help us interpret our modern world and appreciate developments such as plumbing and sanitation. Historiography is satisfying because it fuels the love of history by giving it a practical application in the world today and challenges historians to look for details in sources providing truth about the past.

Historical Thinking – Fall 2016

Author: derekjahwu