I ran across a great quote last week, and thought it would be a great way to start off the week:

But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice—a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice—is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.

This quote comes from John Stuart Mill, a liberal British philosopher who lived in the 19th century. (Source: bottom of right column)

Labels: History, Personal, Politics

I just registered for my first college course in the last 5½ years! I will be taking a class on the Normans via the Distance Education program at the University of Houston, where I transferred after earning my Associate's Degree and where I completed my Junior Year. I got married after that year was over and had to go to work to support my new family, but life has settled down considerably and I now have the money and the need to go back and finish my degree. I originally considered transferring to UT, but I would have had to take my Junior Year over again since UT requires that your last 60 hours be completed on-campus. Then I found out that UH offers 5 degrees via Distance Ed, one of which is History. I think I will be able to take all of my remaining classes here in Austin by purchasing the DVD's from the school and interacting with the professors online. I have been told that I will be able to take my 6 hours of foreign language at UT since I want to take Hebrew and UH does not offer it. The only thing I am worried about now are the classes I lack for my minor, which was Religion. I might have to switch to writing a senior thesis or some other option besides having a minor to get around the lack of Distance Ed classes in Religion, but that will be fine. I just want to finish these last 36 hours and go on with my graduate work. This class next semester is my chance to get my feet wet and get back into the game. I have the full support of my wife and my rabbi, and I hope all of you, as well.

Labels: History, Personal, School

As a result of history being my field of study, I am a big fan of alternate history stories. It is interesting to consider the "What If?" that comes with those stories, and many of them have time-travel and technology aspects, which are also among my favorite story elements.

I just finished reading a book called In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove. He is one of the most prolific alternate History authors, and by far my favorite. He always picks interesting story lines and his plots are usually somewhat plausible (if you don't count the time travel and invading space aliens in some of his novels).

In the Presence of Mine Enemies is set in an alternate earth in 2009 where Adolf Hitler and the German Reich succeeded in defeating the Allies during Word War II. All of Europe, the US, and many other parts of the globe are under German rule, and the Germans have kept up their extermination of the Jews and other "undesireables" for that entire time. All known Jews are dead, Washington and New York are nuked, the blacks in the US are almost all gone, and Germany rules its conquered lands with an iron fist.

The book follows one main character, Heinrich Gimpel, an analyst for the Wermacht (the Army), and his wife, three girls, and friends. They are part of a small number of Jews living under cover in the middle of the German Empire, right under the noses of the SS. Turtledove does a good job of portraying a plausible storyline, and seems to have a decent handle on how Jews think and what they might do if placed in that situation.

There are a few annoying aspects of the book, the most notable being that Turtledove seems to think that his readers will forget who the characters are, even when the book is almost over, so he is constantly reminding you of the characters last names and other small data. He also constantly repeats his little explanations of why the characters are hiding and the fact that they are keeping information secret from others. It becomes annoying at points, but I guess he is making sure that the reading level is not so high that he loses some of his audience.

Despite these annoyances, I encourage you to check out Turtledove's books. You never know what might have happened until you look into the what if's...

Labels: Books, History, Personal