The present within modern history - History 1c

UCLA's History 1c is a modern history course that covers the period 1715 unto this day. Usually with these modern history courses (notably like Berkeley's History 5) the narrative more or less stops around 1989. Historians dabble with the past and the closer you get to the present, the past gets to confused in the light of current, unfinished affairs. So even if it goes on beyond this year, you are likely not to get much more than a lecture or two beyond 1945.

The great thing about History 1c is though, that there are more lectures about the post-1945 period and I have greatly enjoyed them. I do not recall getting so much detail about the cold war, decolonization and the question whether Europe is definitively off the map of of power, or that the fledgling EU is going to bring it back.

Especially thrilling is it to get a history of the 1980's that wonderful period in which so much happened. it is not only far enough to have become sufficiently past so that historians confidently deal with it, but also it is part of my own experience. I was 14 in 1980 and as much a devourer of newspapers as a 14 year old can be. The real kick is to compare my own memories, impressions and analyses of the time with what historians tell today. Reagan, Gorbachev, Chernobyl, the fall of the Wall....

More History 1c:
Holocaust,
Nietzsche in a nutshell,
Industrialization and Italian unification,
History since 1715.

Also:
James Mann about Ronald Reagan (UChannel Podcast),
Unexpected Ronald Reagan (New Books In History),
It was 20 years ago today,
A century of Geopolitics.

The Maccabee Uprising - FITJ podcast review

The podcast series From Israelite to Jew is also a podcast about Judaism, but first of all it is a history podcast that attempts to survey the Jewish Culture in the Second Temple Period. This period ranges from the sixth century BCE to the first century CE. It implies diaspora and return, cultural influence from Persia and Hellenism, Persian rule, Greek rule and Roman rule and uprisings.

The Maccabee uprising against the Greek rulers in 165 BCE is a history that lay the basis for the Chanukkah holidays. In the traditional story the Maccabees are fed up with the Greek and assimilated Jews' desecration of the Temple. They revolt and when they gain the Temple and have to consecrate it, they need a continual burning of ritual oil. Of the oil they have an amount that will last them for a mere day, yet it takes eight days to prepare new. The miracle of Chanukkah is that the oil burnt for eight days.

The Maccabees installed a new dynasty, that of the Chashmonean kings and Satlow attempts to get a finger behind the actual history of the uprising. Here it becomes much less a tale of Jews against Greeks or observant versus assimilated Jews, but rather a quest within the oligarchy of the day between the ruling families. Who was to get power over the worship and over the people. Satlow makes the best of what few sources he has in order to construct the history.

More FITJ:
Hellenism,
Jews of the Persian Empire,
The fox and the hedgehog,
Looking for a Persian History podcast.

The science of Ersatz TV

"Ni hao, bei Ersatz TV!"

My favorite Vodcast has a new chapter out. Since my last review I found out that Ersatz TV is pretending to be a science podcast. It does seem to choose its subjects around science and technology, but with host Annik Rubens sense of humor it all becomes light and entertaining.



In this edition Annik briefly dances around the color schemes as we know them from our computers, cinemas and colorful print work. In addition she comments on the designs of the Euro coins and bills. Last but not least, a rare poison that is indispensable in industry.

More Ersatz TV:
Erzatz TV - German Vodcast.

Moses Hess according to Isaiah Berlin

Oxford University is commemorating a hundred years since the birth of the philosopher and historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin. For the occasion they publish recordings of his lectures from the 1950's on the podcast Isaiah Berlin Centenary (Oxford on iTunesU) (feed) I was glad to find this podcast with the help of Dara from DIY Scholar

I started my listening with a lecture from 1957, in which Berlin introduces the audience to the Socialist and Zionist Moses Hess (1812 - 1875). The initial part of the lecture describes how Hess comes to his early thoughts which were mark him in the future as one of the founders of socialism. Two things are striking at this point. One is the emphasis Berlin places on Hess's Jewish religious roots and the disdain he expresses for Hess's socialist thought. This unexpected start begins to make sense when Hess in a way very similar to Herzl, discovers how deep antisemitism roots and begins to embrace Judaism and develops his socialism into a Proto-Zionism. When Hess dies in 1875, Herzl is still a young adolescent.

Remarkable is also the firm accusation of antisemitism Berlin throws at Karl Marx. In Berlin's opinion, where Marx thought that the Jewish identity will dissolve in the international proletariat, this is all too similar to general nineteenth century thought that Jewish identity should dissolve in national identity. German Jews should be first Germans, just as the British Jews should be Britons. The antisemitism, apparently, is that it denies to Judaism the genuine culture of itself, as Hess assumed.

Vanuit Nederland over Israel - Flavius

Het radioprogramma en podcast Flavius van de Joodse Omroep ging in aflevering 9 ging voor een groot deel over Israël. Niet in zijn geheel; het gesprek met Philipp Blom over zijn boek - De duizelingwekkende jaren; Europa 1900-1914 - moet zeker ook vermeld worden. Dat was zeer de moeite waard.

Verder ging het over Tel Aviv, de Bauhaus architectuur, die niet uitsluitend Bauhaus is en de afgeblazen plannen van Hertzberger om in zee te bouwen. Hoewel het toch om een programma van de Joodse Omroep gaat, vond ik dat het perspectief wel erg Nederlands was. Vooral Hertzbergers teleurstelling in Israëls door hem verwachte vooruitstrevendheid kon nauwelijks meer relativering krijgen dan een korte opmerking van Tamarah Benima, dat Israëlische architecten ook wel wat op Nederland aan te merken hadden.

Ik vermoed dat ze wijselijk haar mond hield toen het over een eventueel optreden van Israël tegen Iran ging. De dreigende combinatie van Ahmedinijads antisemitisme en een Iraanse kernbom die in Israël bange herinneringen aan de holocaust oproepen worden door een van de presentatoren als abuis van de hand gedaan. Het gesprek met Marc Chavannes en Salomon Bouman behandelt dan een eventuele tegenaanval van Israël als de dreiging. Wat daar zo typisch Nederlands aan is, is die buitenstaandershouding die niet eens ingaat op de vraag: Is een kernbom in handen van Ahmedinijad gegarandeerd geen dreigende holocaust? Hoezeer de vergelijking met 1940 ook mank loopt, vond ik het onverklaarbaar dat die dimensie niet in het gesprek werd meegenomen, terwijl die fundementeel is in de strategische overwegingen van Israël.

Meer Flavius:
Joodse Geschiedenis en Cultuur,
Podcast Flavius bij de Joodse Omroep.

Nietzsche - Entitled Opinions

The podcast Entitled Opinions, it has to be said once more, is not one of the most accessible podcasts. And when Robert Harrison hosts Andrew Mitchell to talk about Nietzsche, there is no reason to expect an easy listen. Entitled Opinions always digs right into the subject, assuming you have quite a set of basics to start with.

The conversation between Harrison and Mitchell, though very vivid and inspiring, thoroughly takes on certain aspects of Nietzsche's thinking as it is expressed in 'Thus spoke Zarathustra' with some references to 'Gay Science'. One of the strongest parts is where they, almost by surprise, hit you with the deeper meaning of the idea that God is dead. You get to understand the awkwardness Nietzsche felt with the sociable world and the commonplaces that are taken as values such as morality and happiness. His ideas are that man must strive on and continue to develop which sort of inevitably comes with no steady state of complacency that could be mistaken for enlightenment.

Or so I would express what I have taken away and it is as Mitchell emphasizes: Nietzsche's work is open to varied interpretations. Also, in many ways the discussion was not finished and we closed with Pink Floyd music and a promise of more about the Uebermensch, carefully translated to 'overman'. It helps to prepare the field with some initial reading and listening to other podcasts that refer to Nietzsche.

More about Nietzsche:
Nietzsche in a nutshell (History 1c),
Nietzsche in podcasts,
Existentialism (Philosophy 7, Berkeley),
Friendship,
Shame and Guilt.

More Entitled Opinions:
Romanticism,
Sartre's Existentialism,
Five Free Favorites of Jesse Willis.