Category: War
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July 31, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
According to Emily Wilson, a Greek hero is extraordinary because of their connection to the divine. The closer one is to the gods, the more heroic the human. So, heroes don’t need to do good deeds or have impressive moral standards. Instead, Greek heroes are uncannily victorious, beyond superior on the battlefield. One might say they have a lot of plot armor.
July 24, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Last week, I talked about my own shortcomings as a reader of The Iliad. I am just now starting to realize the importance of discussing Achilles’ wrath. I have always struggled to face it because it leads me to the darkest of human truths. His “cataclysmic wrath” (as coined by Emily Wilson) evidences itself in books 20-23 when Achilles kills everything in his path,
July 17, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Recently, I’ve been talking a lot about fate. For example, in The Iliad, everyone knows the fate of Achilles – even Achilles. In fact, Achilles’ death is so unimportant to the telling of the tale, that it’s not even included in the book. This confirms that the end of the story is less important than the arc of the journey.
January 30, 2026
Thanks to Sabahat Ali Wani, a 2025 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
Hairpins to earrings, scarves to sleeves—as a visual artist, I search for, collect, and use Kashmiri women’s clothes and accessories in my practice, primarily intending to shed light and document our lives, stories, and memories of resistance. That is at the core of my art: resistance, a medium to represent and record Kashmiri women’s narratives.
» Read more about: From Kashmir—Hairpins and Earrings, Scarves and Sleeves »
January 23, 2026
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Peter Brook’s version of Lord of the Flies opens to church bells and a stream of photos from and English boys’ school. The photos and audio include math lessons and angelic sounding chorale arrangements, which are quickly replaced by drums and a cricket match interspersed with missiles, airplanes behind Big Ben, and a chalkboard list of evacuation plans.
May 30, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Did Shakespeare’s Richard III believe in God? In the plays that lead up to Richard III, such as the First and Second Parts of King Henry the Fourth, a series of royal figures claim a divine right to the throne. Ironically, however, this “divine right” culminates in a very bloody culture of brothers killing brothers and cousins killing cousins known as the War of the Roses.
February 28, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
I presented in the War and Culture group for this year’s Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference. War and Culture is well outside my norm, but a comment during one of last year’s roundtable discussions stuck with me. Last year, the War and Culture group was abnormally small, which seemed odd given the number of ongoing worldwide conflicts.
February 7, 2025
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Last year at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association conference what started out as a discussion on adventure novels turned into a discussion of why popular culture circles have stopped writing about war. This conference alone used to hold numerous War and Culture panels. These have dwindled in recent years. I find this astonishing considering that there are at least a dozen major conflicts in the world right now.
November 4, 2022
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
For the October Quarterly Discussion, we read Plutarch’s “Coriolanus” and a speech by David McCullough titled “Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are.” I was not really sure if this combination would work because of the great differences between the two pieces. Plutarch’s biography portends to be history, but is simultaneously a commentary on culture,
October 22, 2021
Thanks to A. Calhoun, a 2021 Fellow in Ideas, for today’s blog post.
[I]f in these times of fear,
This melancholy waste of hopes overthrown,
If, ‘mid indifference and apathy,
And wicked exultation when good men
On every side fall off, we know not how,
To selfishness, disguised in gentle names
Of peace and quiet and domestic love,
Yet mingled not unwillingly with sneers
On visionary minds;
» Read more about: Montessori Education and the Fulfillment of Romanticism »