[O]n Saturday, on a whim, we drove down to Monticello to visit the home of Thomas Jefferson. One of the many things I like about living in this area is the rich history. We can drive north to battlefields at Gettysburg, or we can drive south and visit the unique home of Thomas Jefferson. So…
[W]hile reading about the life of the people of ancient Rome in Will Durant’s Caesar and Christ this morning, I came across this brief, but rather remarkable passage concerning music in Roman life: Old men mourned that recent composers were abandoning the restraint and dignity of the classic style, and were disordering the soul and nerves…
[T]he very first volume of Will Durant’s Story of Civilization series was published by Simon & Schuster in 1935. In the the very first words of that very first volume, Durant writes, I have tried in this book to accomplish the first part of a pleasant assignment which I rashly laid upon myself some twenty years…
[I] mentioned on Twitter today that I have about half a dozen ideas for blog posts based on my reading of Will Durant’s Story of Civilization series. If this isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to skip. I won’t be offended. I figured that before I had my say, I’d provide another perspective, that of…
It is almost impossible for a June 6th to pass without my remembering the fact that it is the anniversary of D-Day. Specifically, the 68th anniversary. I was kind of surprised to see no mention of D-Day when I browsed the headlines this morning (but then, I only browsed, I didn’t look carefully). Back in…
From pp. 331-332 in Caesar and Christ: The famous “panic” of A.D. 33 illustrates the development and complex interdependency of banks and commerce in the Empire. Augustus had coined and spent money lavishly, on the theory that its increased circulation, low interest rates, and rising prices would stimulate business. They did; but as the process…