The first day of LBJ - NBIH

The day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson took over office. At New Books in History Marshall Poe spoke with Steve Gillon, who wrote a book titled The Kennedy Assassination--24 Hours After, but while Kennedy and his assassination are subject of the title, Johnson makes the subheading and for the actual subject of the book: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President.

What is both astounding and at the same time completely expectable is the utter confusion around LBJ's succession of JFK. Astounding it is, because Kennedy was not the first president to be murdered and Johnson was not the first vice-president who had had to suddenly step in. Also, the US never have had serious succession contention. Nevertheless, the assassination struck like lightning on a bright day and shook the nation just as much as all the leading individuals, making for the most humanly confusion.

What adds to the picture and makes for the juicy story Gillon has to tell: the president's brother, Robert Kennedy had a disliking of Johnson and seemed to be scheming against the succession. Or at least, Johnson was sufficiently suspicious of the Kennedy clan and schemed, in his turn, to pull in the transition of power and stage it such that it would look swift and smooth. Poe allows Gillon to spell the story out and it makes for a riveting podcast. I wonder how much drama is left for the readers of the book.

More NBIH:
Ayn Rand,
Atlantic History,
Political rationalizations in Nazi-Germany,
Whalen / Rohrbough,
Confronting the bomb.

Political, Economic and Social Thought - 1980 course

A reader of the blog left a very valuable comment at the report a podcast section. He alerted us to a podcast lecture series in political science: Political Economic and Social Thought by Professor Charles Anderson at the University of Wisconsin which was recorded in the early 1980's (feed). This course consists of a full year worth of lectures as it comprises two consecutive courses over two semesters which could also be taken as one.

We occasionally see podcast lecture series that contain recordings from a more distant past. (I recall an Oxford podcast with recordings of Isaiah Berlin from the 1950's.) One must always wonder what special reason there could be to listen to those old recordings. What added value would it have to follow an introductory course to political science from 25 years ago, when you can take a contemporary one in stead? And so I have begun to listen looking for an answer to this question.

The method and substance of the course seems not very different from today, nor is the lecturer's language (as opposed to Isaiah Berlin's). And if Anderson uses president Reagan as an example, you could replace his name with Obama and have the same outcome. So, despite a difference of 25 years, the course is very similar and while this means it is not outdated, it also makes the question more compelling: why take an old course if you can take a new one?

I would say, based on the first lectures, it is very fascinating to see the much more subtle differences. I am not sure whether everybody will hear this, but I was struck by nuances in Anderson's general statements. It seemed to me that relativism, though he tries to neutralize it a bit, nevertheless plays a more dominant role in his frame of reference than it would today. Also, in the dichotomy of nature and nurture, nurture seems much less challenged in his line of thought. And last but not least, he displays a kind of monism in his treatment of modern Western culture. He plainly states our society started in Greece. He brushes other influences to the side, even Judaism. I think today we take our history much less segmented and take our culture to be a product not just of classical tradition, but also of a Judeo-Christian tradition, with a variety of additional influences.

Especially if you care to take comparisons, it can be extremely interesting to take this old course. Also, if you regret the loss of classic approach.

More Political Science:
Poli 113A - East Asian Thought (UCSD)
Political Science 179 (Berkeley)
Political Science 10 (UCLA)
Politics 114b (UCLA)

History and sociology - Thinking Allowed

BBC Radio Four's Thinking Allowed is a very charming weekly program about social science that is always worth a listen. Today there will be a new program, so be quick to download last week's and if possible the one before.

Host Laurie Taylor has repeatedly revealed he has studied criminology and since I studied the same, I am not surprised by his choice of subjects and lines of questioning. A subject like two weeks ago, about the ever growing amount of inmates in prisons, especially in the US but also in the UK, is typically interesting to criminologists. Be advised to listen and think of this in advance: the size of prison populations says more about policy than about crime rates.

For the average follower of this blog, last week's issue should be even more of interest since the subjects, although sociological in nature, are heavily touching upon history. Taylor spoke about alcohol politics and grave goods. As to the first subject: over the centuries governments have been worried about alcohol abuse and one way or another attempted policies to do something about it. The definitions of what counted as abuse and who were targeted as the prominent abusers are of both historic and sociological significance. The second item was a brief inventory of what goods people choose to bury their deceased loved ones with. Does this seem just social science? An archeologists is in the studio to explain what lessons are in this study for his field.

More Thinking Allowed:
Boffins and WW I,
Richard Hoggart,
Secular vs. Religious,
Renoir and Slumming,
Mizrahi Jews.

Laura speaks Dutch - language learning podcast

One of the most successful and broadly applied genre of educational podcasts are the language learning podcasts. On the website of Open Culture (which is one of the best sources for free educational content) an extensive list of language learning podcasts is available, covering many different languages. So far I have been postponing to review this genre, but I think the time is more than ripe to get started. Please let me know of specific language learning podcasts you would recommend or would like me to review.

I have spent all my life picking up foreign languages. My native is Dutch and from the Dutch culture and educational system I have inherited both extensive learning in English, German and French, as well as the everlasting intention to address people, wherever possible, in their own tongue and therefore to never stop learning languages left and right. Thus I have dabbled in Danish, Arabic, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Portuguese and last but not least, on account of emigrating to Israel, I have learned Hebrew in its natural environment. It will allow me to evaluate a wide variety of language learning podcasts.

The first to pay attention to is Laura speaks Dutch by Brenno de Winter (picture). Brenno's friend Laura needed to learn Dutch and this is why he started making the podcast over three years ago. The podcast is still kicking and true to its original format. In short, 5-10 minute lessons Brenno teaches a couple of sentences and some idiom, allows for on the spot practice by leaving a pause to repeat and then he closes off with some trivia about The Netherlands. Although far from impeccable (it could do with some more post-production), this podcast plainly delivers the handy phrase book level which is needed for initial survival on the spot. (feed)

Brenno's pronunciation falls in the main stream of Dutch speakers, which is important, because the pronunciation of the language is rough and being taught from a dialect sample could be very confusing. Some podfaded podcasts I have tested did not evade this pitfall and with the immense variety of dialects this can cause terrible error. Brenno also has chosen a main stream, tending to the polite and slightly outdated, speaking style, which may sound a bit awkward in Dutch ears, but surely offers a safe haven for the dabbling speaker. Better to sound a bit bookish and old-fashioned, than gamble with the subtle mannerisms of everyday language.

For the more advanced in Dutch one may try some Dutch podcasts to listen to:
Argos (research journalism),
Bommel (audio drama),
De Geschiedenis Podcast (history),
Flavius (Jewish culture and history),
Hoor! Geschiedenis (Dutch history),
Hoorspelen (collection of radio plays),
Interview Vrijdag (interviews about current affairs)
Het Marathon Interview (in-depth interviews, 3-5 hours long),
Simek 's Nachts (interviews by Martin Simek),
Sterke Geschiedenis (general history by Tom Tacken),
Veertien Achttien (history of World War I by Tom Tacken),
Voor een nacht (interviews with Marc Stakenburg).

Shia theology against Ahmedinejad - BBC Analysis

I was just preparing a review of last week's issue of BBC Analysis, which was a wonderful discussion about small states (states of less than 1.5 million inhabitants), what are their advantages and make for their success, like with Singapore and why can they so miserably go down, like Iceland. Refreshingly inconclusive, was the analysis; there seem to be good arguments why small states are healthy, strong and good and arguments why small states are (always on the brink of) being vassal states at best, failed states at worst.

But then the week was full and BBC analysis came with a new issue and the old one got removed from the podcast feed. I hope you have it stored, otherwise, at least read the transcript. And then, do not despair, the latest Analysis, Ayatollogy, was just as fascinating.

This issue brings us the intricacies of Shia theology and its restrained relation with the idea of an Islamic Republic in general and the regime as such in Iran in particular. In a nutshell, Ahmedinijad could be a heretic, the Islamic Republic an oxymoron and the opposition has more clerics in their rank than the sitting rulers, including Ayatollah Khamenei. If you are not in love with Ahmedinejad, this is a good news bad news sum. The good news is that he has weak support from the clergy the bad news is the kind of heretic he is: an apocalyptic. One that would love to force the coming of the twelfth imam by bringing chaos to the world. What is that man doing with nuclear capabilities?

More BBC Analysis:
The future of Pakistan.

POLI 113A - East Asian Thought

The fate of UCSD podcast lecture series is invariably they disappear from the web by the end of the semester. Also, eventually, most of them, are back in due time. And so, POLI 113A - East Asian Thought, which I followed in the summer of 2008, is back now. (feed) This is formally a political theory course, but it dwells in relevant realms for philosophy, anthropology and is generally recommended to anyone.

Professor Victor Magagna is a very good lecturer, though he does not make any attempts to make the matter easy or entertaining. Magagna delivers a clear and well structured course and this is the stuff for every serious student. He systematically introduces us to East Asian Thought (Confucius, Mencius and others), makes a point how this thought permeates through all cultures in East Asia - China, Japan, Korea, Indo-China etc - even among the Maoists who formally reject Confucianism. He also compares these basic lines of thought about man and social order with fundamental Western thought.

This is the time to pick up this course, and grab all the lectures (we have reached lecture 10 by now) and safely store them. Then, one must take the time and concentration to carefully go through them. This is no leisure listening, but when sufficiently attended, this podcast lecture series is extremely worthwhile.

More POLI 113A:
East Asian Culture.