http://expostfacto.historytools.org Unsolicited Historical Commentary Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:21:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've recently started using a new social bookmarking service called Diigo to collect and share online resources with my students. (Diigo has features similar to del.icio.us, which I have also used for teaching, but it's substantially more powerful.) The appealing thing about Diigo is that it allows me ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/diigo-as-a-teaching-tool/ (This posting is a companion to my essay on "Blogging for Your Students" in the May 2007 issue of the AHA Perspectives.) SETTING UP A BLOG If you would like to set up a blog, there are many blogging services to choose from. Ex Post Facto, for instance, runs on WordPress, ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/blogging-for-your-students/ During the spring semester of 2008, I will not be making regular use of this blog for my courses. I will return to regular posting in the fall of 2008. In the meantime, I may be making a few more general posts. --DV http://expostfacto.historytools.org/hiatus/ Reading: Curtis White, The Spirit of Disobedience (Sausalito: PoliPointPress, 2007), 69-119. This book is a work of criticism, and, as such, it forces us to confront ugliness. But White clearly also intends it as a work of hope. (Ignoring ugliness, surrendering to it, is an act of despair -- ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/curtis-white-the-spirit-of-disobedience-3/ Reading: Curtis White, The Spirit of Disobedience: Resisting the Charms of Fake Politics, Mindless Consumption, and the Culture of Total Work (Sausalito: PoliPointPress, 2007), 19-68. This selection of White's book includes two chapters, which I will take up separately. In chapter 2, "Imagination Dead Imagine," White begins to formulate a "spirit of ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/curtis-white-the-spirit-of-disobedience-2/ Reading: Curtis White, The Spirit of Disobedience: Resisting the Charms of Fake Politics, Mindless Consumption, and the Culture of Total Work (Sausalito: PoliPointPress, 2007), 1-18. (By way of introduction to the book, see also my brief interview of Curtis White.) Curtis White, writer and Distinguished Professor of English at Illinois State University, ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/introduction-to-curtis-whites-the-spirit-of-disobedience/ Note: Curtis White generously agreed to answer a few questions that I posed about his book, The Spirit of Disobedience (2007), which my students are about to tackle. He responded to these questions via email on 23 Nov. 2007. -- D. Voelker DV: At the end of The Middle ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/interview-with-curtis-white-on-the-spirit-of-disobedience/ This site includes a comment notification feature in order to facilitate more back-and-forth communication. When you leave a comment, you will have the option of checking a box in order to receive an email if there are additional comments. The email message will actually include the new comments, ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/comment-notification-2/ This is a complex essay created by a high-caliber intellect -- one of the most influentual Christian thinkers of the 20th century. It's important to note, right from the start, that Niebuhr was criticizing, rather than promoting, the negative view of myth that he described in the essay's first paragraph. ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/niebuhr-the-truth-in-myths-1937/ Reading: William James, "The Will to Believe" (1896), abridged version James began this classic and challenging essay with a lengthy but necessary introduction that set the stage for his larger argument. It's important to follow these introductory concepts in order to be able to understand his main argument. The ... http://expostfacto.historytools.org/william-james-the-will-to-believe/