Michael Tomasky: A Quiz on the Eminent Historians
[Michael Tomasky is the Editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas and American Editor-at-Large of the Guardian (UK).]
As a young man, I briefly toyed with the notion that I might get myself a nice Ph.D. in history. I was a fairly unaggressive student as an undergraduate, but the one category of classes I really did enjoy, in which I actually even tended to do the reading, was history. My first class on the French Revolution opened my eyes and set my mind ablaze, and I will always remember fondly my professor, Dennis O'Brien. An extremely witty man, gay though not exactly open about it (though also not exactly closeted either), quite self-consciously campy, he would half-jokingly profess himself a great admirer of the monarchy and a believer in enlightened despotism as the highest form of rule. I called him "Citoyen de Brienne" once in class, and he took very histrionic umbrage.
He loved a line he attributed to Frederick the Great. The emperor was touring the prisons and pointed at a prisoner. He asked what that man was in for. The guard replied nervously that it was for having sex with horses. "Well," bellowed Frederick. "Get that man out of this prison and put him in the infantry!"
I remember on the first day of class he asked for a show of hands on the question, "How many of you think people are basically good and usually do the right thing?" About half raised their hands (I didn't). In mock sadness he smiled ruefully and said, perhaps thinking of what he would later tell us about Saint-Just and other notables, "Well, I'm afraid you might have kind of a tough time with this class."
I never got that Ph.D., but I have read me some history, as I suspect all of you have, and so today we visit the subject of great works of history. There are of course so many to choose from. In fact there are so many that today's quiz has 12 questions. Eight concern Americans and four Brits. Thinking caps on? Let's do it....
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
As a young man, I briefly toyed with the notion that I might get myself a nice Ph.D. in history. I was a fairly unaggressive student as an undergraduate, but the one category of classes I really did enjoy, in which I actually even tended to do the reading, was history. My first class on the French Revolution opened my eyes and set my mind ablaze, and I will always remember fondly my professor, Dennis O'Brien. An extremely witty man, gay though not exactly open about it (though also not exactly closeted either), quite self-consciously campy, he would half-jokingly profess himself a great admirer of the monarchy and a believer in enlightened despotism as the highest form of rule. I called him "Citoyen de Brienne" once in class, and he took very histrionic umbrage.
He loved a line he attributed to Frederick the Great. The emperor was touring the prisons and pointed at a prisoner. He asked what that man was in for. The guard replied nervously that it was for having sex with horses. "Well," bellowed Frederick. "Get that man out of this prison and put him in the infantry!"
I remember on the first day of class he asked for a show of hands on the question, "How many of you think people are basically good and usually do the right thing?" About half raised their hands (I didn't). In mock sadness he smiled ruefully and said, perhaps thinking of what he would later tell us about Saint-Just and other notables, "Well, I'm afraid you might have kind of a tough time with this class."
I never got that Ph.D., but I have read me some history, as I suspect all of you have, and so today we visit the subject of great works of history. There are of course so many to choose from. In fact there are so many that today's quiz has 12 questions. Eight concern Americans and four Brits. Thinking caps on? Let's do it....