Month: May 2016

Did Theodore Roosevelt really save Football?

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Yale University’s undefeated football team of 1905

In 1905, American football faced an crisis. Far to many young men were being killed while playing football and no one was taking any serious actions to reduce the risks. The headline at the top of the right hand column in ”The Chicago Sunday Tribune” on November 26, 1905 screamed, “Football Year’s Death Harvest – Record Shows That Nineteen Players Have Been Killed; One Hundred Thirty-seven Hurt – Two Are Slain Saturday.” Contemporary numbers differ on the exact number of football fatalities suffered on the playing field in 1905, but young men were dying playing football. Read more at DailyHistory.org.

Shantytown, USA: Interview with Lisa Goff

Shantytown

The Harvard University Press recently published Lisa Goff’s new book Shantytown, USA: Forgotten Landscapes of the Working Poor. There’s a chance that one of your American ancestors lived in an American shantytown. While we may not realize it now, shantytowns were a common feature of 19th century America. Goff’s book explores not only how shantytowns became a prominent feature of America’s towns and cities, but why middle class Americans eventually turned on them and their residents. Read more at DailyHistory.org.

Why was Alexander the Great So Successful In His Conquests?

1200px-Alexander_the_Great_mosaicIn the public’s mind, few well known conquerors in history match the exploits of Alexander the Great. In just a few years, from 334-330 BC, Alexander would go on to conquer the largest empire the world had known and establish his own empire that eventually stretched from Greece to India. Furthermore, Alexander began a process where Greek culture began to intermix with ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Central Asian, and Indian cultures that influenced much of the Old World for many centuries. The exchange of ideas and trade brought about an era of unprecedented prosperity and knowledge that advanced the ancient world’s sciences and led to many discoveries that would not be replicated until the Renaissance in the 15 or 16th century AD. Read more at DailyHistory.org.

Was Elizabeth I Justified in having her Cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland Executed?

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Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I executed her cousin Mary Stuart on February 8th, 1587. Was this necessary? When studying the lives of Elizabeth I and her rival cousin Mary Stuart, modern interpretations paint a fairly definitive picture of their perceived personalities. Elizabeth’s character is revealed through titles such as Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor by Katherine Lasky, Elizabeth I: Queen of England’s Golden Age by Paul Hilliam, or Clark Hulse’s Elizabeth: Ruler and Legend. Mary Stuart, however, is painted in a much different light. Recent works detailing the life and actions of the Queen of Scots can not be found in the romance section, though their titles include John Guy’s My Heart is my Own, and Jenny World’s Mary, Queen of Scots: Pride, Passion and a Kingdom Lost.  Read more at DailyHistory.org.

What are the Origins of Astronomy?

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Astronomy is often thought of as a field that has developed from ancient Greek scholars, but its stretches even further back most likely before recorded history. We know that astronomy has played a vital role in the agricultural cycle and early religions. These early innovations have led to major advancements in developing our calendar, system of time, understanding of astronomical movements and prediction, coordinate system, and mathematical developments. Read more at DailyHistory.org.

How did Edwin Drake create the World’s first oil well?

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Edwin Drake and his oil well

This Dailyhistory.org article explores the creation of the world’s first oil well. Even though there was no one “first discover” of oil. Oil was known in antiquity when it was used to heal wounds. But by the middle of the 19th century methods for collecting oil from the ground had not changed for thousands of years. Edwin Drake’s oil fundamentally changed this process and dramatically increased oil production around the world. Instead of harvesting oil in a pail or sopping it up with rags and wrung out by hand over barrels, oil wells produced thousands of barrels of oil. The creation of the oil well fundamentally altered the course of the 20th century. Read more at DailyHistory.org. 

Hodges’ Scout: Interview with Len Travers

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Here is DailyHistory.org’s recent interview with Len Travers about his book Hodges’ Scout: A Lost Patrol of the French and Indian War published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Travers’ book examines a group of colonial scouts who were ambushed on a patrol in upstate New York by French and Native American soldiers during the French and Indian War. Travers uses this massacre to explore the lives of the colonists who fought, died and even survived this massacre. Read more at DailyHistory.org.