Tag: War
We’re excited that you’ve joined the conversation! At HMU, we want to continue the great authors’ conversations in a contemporary context, and this blog will help us do that. We look back to Aristotle and the early philosophers who used reason and discourse to gain wisdom and now we endeavor to do the same every day.
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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.
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,
April 16, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
In BattleBots, a television show based on robot combat, Faruq announces each competitor with poetic flair. His powerful voice and dominant presence animates the crowd and fans the flames of rivalry and competition. He riddles his introductions with puns which make them fun, silly, full of contemporary references, and also part of an ancient tradition.
April 9, 2021
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Today’s post is a brief look at translation and word choice in Thucydides. Both small sections from The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book IV, Chapter XII, furnish a glimpse of the author’s opinion. Though Thucydides set out to write a history of the war, and very conscientiously presents two balanced sides of the story, he cannot avoid opinion.
September 18, 2020
Thanks to Dean Coslovi, a 2020 HMU Fellow in Ideas, for today’s post.
You must wish to consume yourself in your own flame: how could you wish to become new unless you had first become ashes! – Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche’s enlightened sage, “Zarathustra”, declares that there are “three metamorphoses” of the human spirit: the camel,
» Read more about: The Overman, The Child, and Oskar Schindler »
March 20, 2020
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
Dr. Deborah Deacon, a former Dean of Harrison Middleton University, co-authored a book entitled A Century in Uniform; Military Women in American Films, published earlier this year. Stacy Fowler and Dr. Deacon’s book dedicates a chapter to each decade (or so) since the introduction of film. They selected films that depict a woman in the military in some form or other.
February 28, 2020
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s post.
To listen to a short run-through of all sixty paintings and captions by Jacob Lawrence, visit the Khan Academy’s tutorial or visit the Phillips Collection to view them one-by-one.
So much of Black History Month highlights notable African Americans who have contributed positive ideas and energy to this country. Jacob Lawrence is no exception,