Rediscovering History

This wide-ranging collection of essays on the cultural history of modern Europe is unified by a concern with how the relation between self and society finds expression in cultural production. The distinguished contributors trace the interaction of socio-political conditions with ideas of self and society, describe the ways in which culture makers respond to political and religious issues by creating new forms of art, explore notions of the self created in historical crises, and reveal how certain constructions of history and time are related to narrative structure and performance.

In 1940, in the Jewish ghetto of Nazi-occupied Warsaw, the Polish historian Emanuel Ringelblum established a clandestine scholarly organization called the Oyneg Shabes to record the experiences of the ghetto's inhabitants. For three years, members of the Oyneb Shabes worked in secret to chronicle the lives of hundereds of thousands as they suffered starvation, disease, and deportation by the Nazis. Shortly before the Warsaw ghetto was emptied and razed in 1943, the Oyneg Shabes buried thousands of documents from this massive archive in milk cans and tin boxes, ensuring that the voice and culture of a doomed people would outlast the efforts of their enemies to silence them. Impeccably researched and thoroughly compelling, Samuel D. Kassow's Who Will Write Our History? tells the tragic story of Ringelblum and his heroic determination to use historical scholarship to preserve the memory of a threatened people.

In the passage to modernity we in the West have lost the ability to see things whole. We've closed our minds to all things transcendent and default to unbelief, and can't make sense of the persistent echoes of the voice of God that reverberate in our souls. In Rediscovering God's Grand Story, James Roseman picks up the strands of science, philosophy, history, the arts, and theology, and reweaves the tapestry to see a coherent story that makes the best sense of the world and provides real meaning and significance to our lives--God's Grand Myth. We see that the signals of transcendence that confound our culture of doubt are a universal language and vocabulary of the heart echoing the voice of God; and in the very Judeo-Christian story we so readily jettison is found the Author enabling us to see the world whole again. This essay tells why the story and promise of Christianity is so hard to hear today but won't go away. Could it be that, as T. S. Eliot wrote in the mid-twentieth century, "at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time"?

When well-designed institutions function properly, people thrive. Few institutions have been more ingeniously designed than the U.S. federal government via the Constitution in 1787. This auspicious beginning more than two centuries ago helps explain why the U.S. remains a magnet for opportunity seekers, students, entrepreneurs, dissidents, and persecuted believers. Yet for decades now, America’s federal government has been underperforming. Social Security and Medicare face looming insolvency. The federal government’s “war on poverty” has failed to “end poverty” and arguably made it worse. In 2012, the United States Postal Service lost more money than the nation spent on the State Department, and Amtrak has lost money every year since being created in 1971. How can an enduring institution, so thoughtfully crafted, now produce such poor results? The federal government has grown so much because it serves a new and different vision, American Progressivism. American Progressives believed that democratically elected, public-minded federal politicians and employees could use federal programs to solve the nation’s greatest problems in a way no other American institution could. This idea justified the federal government’s massive expansion: today, the federal government runs over 1,500 programs and employs over 5% of the U.S. workforce. Yet federal results do not match Progressive expectations. Three key problems – “windfall politics”, “the government surcharge”, and “complexity failure” – overlooked by American Progressives explain the federal government’s consistent failures. American Progressive’s rosy-eyed view of human nature and political institutions have not been borne out by the evidence. In an era of substantial political fermentation and debate, rediscovering and re-applying American Republicanism represents the best path forward for the United States. The federal government should retain many necessary responsibilities but turn over those where it has failed – for social welfare, federally provided services, and retirement savings among others – to the country’s state governments, civil society, and individual citizens respectively.

Rediscovering Aesthetics brings together prominent international voices from art history, philosophy and artistic practice who reflect on current notions, functions, and applications of aesthetics in their distinctive fields.

Discusses the many visits made by explorers, missionaries, businessmen, scientists, and others to Easter Island since the late 1600s and what they revealed about life on this remote Pacific island.

Ever wonder why everyone wants to immigrate to America? Rediscovering America answers that question, and it’s like no other history you have ever read. More than an account of people, dates, and events, this story is about the hidden hand of a purposeful historical development where the main actors are colorful characters, participating in an American drama of little known but remarkable events where overcoming incredible odds of failure is more unbelievable and engaging than fiction. And while each chapter is a stand-alone tale—some quite wild—about what is behind each of the American holidays, the page- and chapter-turning appeal of Rediscovering America is in the narratives that link the holiday stories together, revealing an account of progress and redemption in America covering over four hundred years—never before told in a concise and readable book.

In this New York Times bestseller, join Newt and Callista Gingrich on a walking tour of Washington, D.C. and learn about the great people, events, and ideas that shaped the religious founding of America. Explore the architecture and beauty of America's capital with Newt and Callista Gingrich. You'll tour Washington, D.C. to view the nation's monuments and memorials, including the United States Capitol and the National Archives, where Thomas Jefferson's immortal words jump off the page. But this is not just a walking tour; this is a tour of American history -- of the patriotic founders who were shaped by the fervent belief that America is one nation under God. With this guide, you'll rediscover the soul of our country and find a profound path of discovery and renewal.

Canadian history including some activities.